tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63959717026256578222024-03-13T16:18:37.479-07:00Sweet Von Pea's PodSweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-17739239315692290512012-03-06T16:22:00.004-08:002012-03-06T16:22:34.144-08:00Mass Effect 3 Drops Today and Your Head Looks Cold!Remember my recent<a href="http://sweetvonpeapod.blogspot.com/2012/02/massively-effective-knitting.html" target="_blank"> post about Mass Effect hats</a>? It's ok, go look, I'll wait...*taps foot*<br />
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Caught up now? Great!<br />
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Now you can have a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/your/listings/94675182" target="_blank">Mass Effect N7 Beanie of your very own!</a> The newest addition to the Mass Effect universe, Mass Effect 3 drops today (March 6th, 2012) and so does this awesome beanie...you know, in my Etsy shop!<br />
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Show your gamer love or gamer pride and get one for yourself or the gamer in your life! There's nothing worse than a cold head while you're trying to game!<br />
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From Mass Effect Wiki: <strong class="selflink" style="background-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">N7</strong><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"> is a vocational code in the </span><a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Systems_Alliance" style="background-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #71d1ef; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Systems Alliance">Systems Alliance</a><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"> military. The "N" designates special forces and the "7" refers to the highest level of proficiency. It applies to marines who have graduated from an elite training program.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">So check out the<a href="http://www.etsy.com/your/listings/94675182" target="_blank"> shop</a> and order your <a href="http://www.etsy.com/your/listings/94675182" target="_blank">N7 Beanie Today</a>! Yay!</span></span>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-88446801353981043842012-03-01T15:42:00.001-08:002012-03-01T15:42:29.759-08:00Hippity Hoppity!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Just in time for Spring and Easter!</div>
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Like so many of my projects, this one started with someone
asking if I could make a bunny hat. My default answer whenever anyone asks if I
can make something is “presumably.” I’ve yet to find something I truly couldn’t
figure out. It may not turn out exactly how it was originally envisioned, in
fact it often doesn’t, but I can usually figure something out. </div>
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This may shock you, but I love knitting. I love knitting for
the sake of knitting, I find it extremely relaxing and somewhat meditative
under the right circumstances. But what I love most is a good challenge. Custom
requests excite me because it gives me a chance to sit down with my needles and
really think a project through. </div>
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There’s somewhat of a process to it. First there is the
research phase. Colors and characteristics are very important both to the
client’s preferences and when doing a known character, there needs to be
continuity to help make it recognizable. So Google and I get down to business
and I find a bunch of pictures to work with. Then I break things down to their
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I get a kick out of it, I’m abysmal at math but knitting
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school. Thank goodness for knitting counters and calculators! </div>
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Anyway, once I’ve broken things down, I get to figure out
how to knit the shapes I need. At this point this is often straight forward but
sometimes I still run into a shape that really makes me scratch my head. So I start
my project, think I know what I’m doing, end up frustrated, swear at my yarn
and needles, walk away for anywhere from a few hours to a couple weeks, finally
figure that it’s easier than I was making it, feel silly for having such a hard
time with it. At this point, I usually have multiple knit pieces sitting in
front of me that don’t look like much disassembled. It never fails, every time I
look at my pieces and how weird they look and think “there’s no way this is
going to come together and look right”. But I plough on and start sewing things
together and in the end, I’m usually quite happy with what my frustration and
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In any event, the focus of this particular blog is not what I
go through when creating things, it is rather, this adorable bunny hat! I have
always been a fan of any holiday that gives me an excuse to eat ham or leg of
lamb (my family’s traditional Easter dinner options). I used to love decorating
and hunting for Easter eggs when I was a kid too. So whether you celebrate
Easter in it’s more traditional sense or just want a fun way to welcome the
spring! </div>
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This hat is available in my <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPea" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a> with three bow
options. However, it can be customized in just about any colors that strike
your fancy. Just today I got a request for a pink hat and ears with a black
bow. So don’t hesitate to comment here on the blog, on my facebook page, or
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPea" target="_blank">convo me on Etsy</a>!</div>
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<br />Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-55365770027177656302012-02-27T16:58:00.000-08:002012-02-27T16:58:31.739-08:00Massively Effective Knitting!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Geek Alert!</div>
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The gentleman in the center in the picture above is a very
good friend of mine. The two gentlemen on either side of him are his very good
friends. All three are very big fans of the video game Mass Effect. </div>
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I’m not a big gamer myself; I would rather spend the time
knitting! But when my friend asked if I could knit a hat for him with a logo
from one of his favorite games, I was all too happy to take on the challenge! The
characters “N7” and a little triangle, how hard could it be, right?</div>
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Famous. Last. Words.</div>
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For those who don’t know, this is what the logo looks like. </div>
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N7 is some sort of elite fighting force in the game. I’d
give you a more detailed description if I knew anything about it. Since I
don’t, if you’re really curious, I guess Google is going to be your best
friend. </div>
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I sat down with some graph paper and tried to chart out the
logo. It wasn’t too hard but I had a spot of bother with the 7. Making it
proportional to the N and not spacing it too far away was a bit of a challenge.
The slope of the triangle with the little…extra block on top was also cause for
some consternation. However, I managed to get things charted well enough to at
least give it a try. </div>
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The first hat was…well it was not the smash hit I had hoped
it would be. For one thing, I used too wide a knit which was very unforgiving
where I’d made mistakes it didn’t work well with the triangle. It’s passable,
but it’s just not right. </div>
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However, since it was a free hat, I oh so graciously told my
friend to suck it up and wear it. He actually did wear it some this winter but
I don’t blame him for wanting a better one, which I will make for him
eventually! Anywho, he showed his hat to his friend who loved it. We chatted a
bit about what would make the pattern work better (it’s so cute when non
knitters sit there and try really hard to understand what I’m talking about).
He decided to order two hats, one for himself and one for his brother with the
new and improved logo once I figured it out.</div>
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Since I had the incentive of getting paid (I know money is
evil and all but it is a good motivator! So is being able to do nifty things
like buy more yarn!) I set right to work re-tooling the logo. It took some time
but I shrunk it down, which really helped with the letter and number, and made
it as a patch that I sewed onto a black beanie instead of knitting it into the
beanie like before. </div>
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I was much happier with the second atempt, it gave me a much
clearer logo. My customers were also very happy with their hats which led to
these lovely photos modeling them! </div>
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While you're here, you should check out the <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPea" target="_blank">Etsy store</a>! New things have been added and more new items will go up this week!</div>
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<br /></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-17142978174442880262012-02-20T15:45:00.000-08:002012-02-20T15:45:19.456-08:00Thank You, Come Again!<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Well, since the <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPea">Etsy shop</a> is now up and running, it seems like a good time to talk about what is currently listed! I am slowly but surely getting new things ready to list so keep an eye out for that but today we’re going to take a little walk down memory lane. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">There have been a lot of changes in my knitting in the 3 or so years I’ve been doing it. It is only recently that I finally got good at knitting in the round. This means that everyone I made, I had to figure out how to knit flat. I scoured the internet for hats that could be knit on straight needles. I stumbled upon the directions for this <a href="http://sweetvonpeapod.blogspot.com/2010/07/since-i-am-mostly-self-taught-as.html">design</a> (Go look, I'll wait!)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">But I wanted something more basic so I could add other adornments. It took a good deal of searching but I finally found a pattern that worked on straight needles and on circuluars! Woohoo!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">So I figured out the pattern and made my first beanie and was sooooo very proud of myself! Then I decided it was boring and needed ears! The thing about knitting is that it actually breaks down to a few basic shapes you can make with the knit. The rest it about breaking things down into those shapes and figuring out how they fit together in order to make them out of knit. Animal ears, for the sake of knit purposes, are different variations on triangles or half circles. Making them look like ears has a lot to do with yarn choices and finishing. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Anywho, animal ear hats are pretty popular these days but there’s another knit hat design I see a lot too, the Mohawk. I see a lot of yarn Mohawks when I look around for interesting hat patterns and when I check out the local hat shops. I’ve even made one myself…lemme tell ya, building the Mohawk part of those hats is murder! Takes forever! But I set out to do something a little different. I took the spike pattern I had previously used for my <a href="http://sweetvonpeapod.blogspot.com/2010/08/birthday-dragon.html">dragon scarf</a>. Shrank them down and stuck them on top of a hat. I like the more traditional Mohawk (can you use the word traditional with Mohawk?) hats but I like the spikey look of these better. It’s not exactly a Mohawk as I’d envisioned, looks more like a dragon or dinosaur hat which is A-ok with me!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">I have of course branched out quite a lot since those early designs but they are where I got my start with nifty, fun hats and I think they’re cute. I’ve made a couple for myself and wear them often and there are a few out there bought by others and given as gifts by me! So check out the store, they are on sale at $15, I normally charge $20 for a new ear of spike hat! That’s five whole dollars off people! The deals around here are just craaaazy!</div><br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-73587614465033988342012-02-16T08:04:00.000-08:002012-02-16T08:04:01.592-08:00Etsy...Finally!!! Etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPeaOk, so I've been away from my blog for a while. Yes, dear readers, I realize this is a common theme for me. If it makes you feel any better, when I'm being a bad blogger, I'm being a good knitter!<br />
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In any event, I am back, for now anyway, and hopefully fairly regularly as I have lots of projects to share and such! For today though, I am happy to announce that after a bit over a year of selling behind the scenes, I have finally actually listed stuff in my Etsy store! Yay! One person wave in honor of me!<br />
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<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPea?ref=seller_info">http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPea</a><br />
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So there you have it, my Etsy shop is finally live! For now I am working on photographing and listing all the things I currently have in stock, soon I will list the already fairly popular made to order items like the Yoda, Leia, and Hello Kitty hats (stay tuned for a blog about Hello Kitty hats!). Also, hopefully coming in the next week or so will be listings for fun Easter themed hats and bunny ears!<br />
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For the time being, I am still taking requests for just about anything you can think of so don't be afraid to drop me a line and ask if I can figure out how to make something. The answer is usually yes! In the meantime, check out the shop, new things are going up every couple days!<br />
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<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPea?ref=seller_info">http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetVonPea</a>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-33946244687680731912011-08-02T00:06:00.000-07:002011-08-02T00:06:57.764-07:00The Business Card…Oy Vey!<div class="MsoNormal">I am incredibly indecisive. Actually, that’s not true. (see what I did there?)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am incredibly indecisive about certain things. Chief among those things is templates of any kind. Every time I have ever tried to put together a simple website, choose a color pallet, start up this blog, or make a business card, I have ended up frozen with indecision. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I find one I like…then I find another one I like. Then I find 1 or 2 more I like. So I start fiddling with them, I play with the customizing options and generally end up over working them so I don’t like them anymore. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Eventually, I narrow it down to 2 or 3 and actually manage to tweak those so I like them.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then I can’t decide which one I want. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So I put it to a vote. I ask my mom, then I ask a friend, then I put it on facebook and ask all my friends. Usually by this point I have a front runner and least favorite and the majority seems to always like my least favorite and hate my front runner. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So I get frustrated and put it up on a fast moving message board and put it to a vote there. (Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment. Sometimes the mass polling goes my way and sometimes it doesn’t but usually by them I am so annoyed with myself and the whole process that I have to just walk away for a few days. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then I come back and remember why I was annoyed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So why am I telling you all this? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Because, good readers, I have just ordered my first business card! And it only took me 3 weeks to decide on a design!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here it is in all it’s glory:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">I suppose I could show you the runners up, but if I do, you have to be nice and not tell me I’m lame and chose the wrong one…k? I knew you guys would be nice!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So these were a close second and third:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sPGI6AqgoCw/TjefnT-dmZI/AAAAAAAADZ0/-m03dVa1w_M/s1600/business+card+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sPGI6AqgoCw/TjefnT-dmZI/AAAAAAAADZ0/-m03dVa1w_M/s320/business+card+2.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So after I narrowed it down to these three, I couldn't decide so I went back to Vistaprint.com (they made this process quite nice and easy aside from giving me too many options) and started looking through designs again hoping to find something that spoke to me. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What I ended up with this time is a jumble of confusion. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I thought for a while I wanted to go a little more simple and formatted this one: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QnPG4CfA-XE/TjegIQ-VVcI/AAAAAAAADZ4/JiR3guAbICE/s1600/simple.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QnPG4CfA-XE/TjegIQ-VVcI/AAAAAAAADZ4/JiR3guAbICE/s320/simple.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Then I decided that one was lame and maybe I didn't like the colors I'd been looking at and what I really needed was something totally different from the colors I'd been looking at so I had a brief love affair with this one:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GpfLSwJwSrI/TjegpSJ8OsI/AAAAAAAADZ8/RoVlvOhRfM4/s1600/purple.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GpfLSwJwSrI/TjegpSJ8OsI/AAAAAAAADZ8/RoVlvOhRfM4/s320/purple.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Then I thought...I want some edge and formatted this one and loved it and really really wanted it...but it's not really what I'm going for:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMk49OYxWKQ/TjehQXIoNYI/AAAAAAAADaA/PpVFL1Yl6sA/s1600/skull.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HMk49OYxWKQ/TjehQXIoNYI/AAAAAAAADaA/PpVFL1Yl6sA/s320/skull.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I actually still really like the skulls and I kinda hope someday I find a use for it. But for now I'm happy with my choice and excited about being able to hand out business cards when people ask where they can find me!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, you may have noticed that there is an Etsy address on all these cards. So the cats out of the bag. I'm currently only using Etsy to set up special listings for special request sales or people who aren't comfortable sending me payments directly through paypal. But soon, there will be an Etsy shop with some pre-made and some made to order.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There will be an announcement and probably some sort of grand opening sale when that happens, I will keep you informed!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-66725388276694144342011-07-28T16:25:00.000-07:002011-07-28T16:25:31.216-07:00Ok, who missed me?<div class="MsoNormal">So, I know it’s been a while (bad blogger, no cookie!) but I have been busy knitting. Normally that means I have lots of stuff to blog about but lately I’ve been busy knitting more or less the same two things. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Princess Leia and Yoda hats! These puppies are selling like hotcakes…hotcakes that take a week to make. Lately I've been making them in all sorts of sizes and I've even made several people who aren't born yet! I sure hope I start getting some pictures from customers soon!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anywho, I’m beyond grateful for the business but it’s meant I haven’t had a lot of time to knit other things. I have a few things in the works right now and I have made some interesting things in between so stay tuned for something new very soon!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’d like to pretend that I can stick to a tri or bi or even once weekly blog post schedule but, lets face it, I can’t. However, dear reader, I shall try to be more dependable moving forward. Come on baby, I know we can make this work!</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-16207888341583602752011-04-09T17:20:00.000-07:002011-04-09T17:20:38.997-07:00There's One (or more) In Every Family.<div style="text-align: center;">Hello out there in blog land, I know I've been away for a while but I'm hoping to get back to at least semi-regular posting!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">This is my cousin…unfortunately. Without going into too much detail, she and I don’t get along. Recently I found myself in the position of needing to remove her somewhat erratic and destructive force from my life. *sigh* These things happen. I believe very strongly in family but I also believe very strongly that blood is not thicker than self preservation and sanity.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gF4oZEd0Dtc/TaD0VE9hbbI/AAAAAAAADVY/N2juFR90Dks/s320/189509_212580558752223_100000008414018_911072_5584526_n.jpg" width="240" /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Anywho, I didn’t post a picture of my cousin because I wanted to talk about unpleasantness. Rather, I wanted to talk about the nifty hats I slaved over before cutting her out of my life. I had thought to roll these out over more than one post but I figure I may as well get the cousin related blogging out of the way and move on with my life. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">As you can see in the first photo, my cousin is sporting some knitwear. She requested three hats of me (and expected to pay next to nothing…really kicking myself for giving her such a good price now) A baby Yoda hat for her infant son, a Green Lantern hat for her betrothed, and a Hat with attached scarf for herself. (Pictured above)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">She requested that her hat be made of super soft yarn so I complied despite the extra cost of the super soft yarn (again, kicking myself for the rockin’ discount I gave her.) In order to cut my costs a little I knit the hat and scarf double strand, one strand being softer yarn and one strand being regular acrylic. Still soft and cozy but a little cheaper to produce. (Lol, there’s my trade secret for the day!) I knit the hat and both scarf-flaps separately then seamed and attached. Nothing too complicated but I was pleased with how it came out and so was she!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Next was the Baby Yoda hat, pictured here on my cousin’s little boy. He is rather cute, a pity I will no longer be able to use him as a hat model. Nothing ground breaking here, you’ve seen my Yoda Hats before, but I wanted to show it off on a living model!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Last but not least is the Green Lantern hat. There was a time when there were many Green Lantern fans in my life so I set out to knit a Green Lantern symbol. I posted that on a favorite geek message board of mine which led to what was actually my very first order for knitwear: a special request for a Green Lantern Hat and scarf. My cousin’s someday to be husband saw pictures of that set and had to have a hat for his very own.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5ePGyEPA5EI/TaD0YdFPOII/AAAAAAAADVk/6husCuiU9Rw/s320/199927_212577855419160_100000008414018_911064_2110189_n.jpg" width="240" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">So I knit him up a hat and here is his customer action shot…It’s a little beyond me why he couldn’t like…I dunno…put on a real shirt for the photo which was part of the trade for the discount I gave them. Que sera, he truly enjoys his hat and it shows in the pic (see his happy face?) and that does warm my heart. Few things make me happier than seeing people truly enjoy something I’ve made for them.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> Since I’m getting all things related to that chick formerly known as my cousin out of the way, I figured I’d also show the first two baby hats I gifted my cousin with upon the birth of her son. The first being one being a fuzzy kitty ear hat and the second being a boobie!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PHAjL2PXhxs/TaD0XSERvyI/AAAAAAAADVg/4EAMV84o6Sw/s1600/183471_205080882835524_100000008414018_857947_1960442_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PHAjL2PXhxs/TaD0XSERvyI/AAAAAAAADVg/4EAMV84o6Sw/s320/183471_205080882835524_100000008414018_857947_1960442_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">The boobie hat is actually a story all it’s own, so I will leave it at that for now!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anywho, Have a good day readers, and appreciate your family, be they blood relations or the family you build for yourself with good friends!</div><br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-48512106843760929162011-01-22T06:08:00.000-08:002011-01-23T23:16:32.424-08:00Did I 'Ear You Right"<div class="MsoNormal">So in the last post I mentioned getting paid to knit. This post is also about some of the things I’ve gotten paid to knit recently! Ina weird way, this is also very much about getting ears shaped correctly.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, recently I was tasked with making a Yoda baby hat and a child’s Pikachu hat. I love a new knitting challenge so I did some research to make sure I could put something together and then set about designing these.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For those who don’t know, Pikachu, is a Pokemon. Pokemon is short for Pocket Monster (or so they tell me). If you don’t have children and have never been a child or somehow otherwise managed to miss the entire boat on the Pokemon phenomenon, Pokemon was a children’s TV show of Japanese origin. Pikachu is a specific Pokemon character. As I recall, he is an electric mouse. In general I will only use my own images on here but I figure this is one of those times when a visual aid would be a good thing. So this is a Pokemon and I own no rights what so ever to this image. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Ok, got it? Good.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">So now that you know what a Pikachu looks like, you can see my brilliant work crafting a hat for a child who is a big Pikachu fan! This hat was purchased by a mommy friend for her very cute and sweet and well behaved 5 year old!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">I knew basically what Pikachu looked like but I was not well versed so I did a bunch of research. By research mean, I googled the heck out of that little guy. I also looked around at the sort of Pikachu hats others had made. I rarely end up using an actual pattern for anything and I of course won’t sell anything made with someone else’s pattern. But I do like to reference and see what others have come up with, I figure that’s fairly common.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">There were several out there but I found many of them were all yellow except for the black tips on the ears and it seemed boring. It’s not like a huge design element but I threw in the black brim to break up the yellow a bit ‘cause that’s how I roll. Speaking of how I roll, the brim can be rolled up so It looks more like a beanie!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">The ears were interesting, I debated how best to make them look like what I saw in the pictures. I saw all manner of other knit Pikachu ears but often they were flat or too droopy. But a little stuffing and mine seem to sit just as intended. Apparently Pikachu uses his ears to express emotion. It was also beyond cute to see the 5 year old recipient of this hat shaking his head around to get his ears to bounce!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TTrdyE_MaPI/AAAAAAAADUo/afpZAVhrKII/s1600/DSCF1042+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TTrdyE_MaPI/AAAAAAAADUo/afpZAVhrKII/s320/DSCF1042+-+Copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">How freakin' cute is that?!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Now on to Yoda.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">I figure Star Wars in general and Yoda specifically is prolific enough for me to not need to provide too much explanation or pictures stolen from the interwebs. If you don’t know who Yoda is…well go watch Star Wars, like all of them! Do it now, I’ll wait.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Didja do it? I’ll take your silence as an affirmative. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">So the Yoda hat requested was for an infant. Infants can be tricky. See, some kids come out with tiny tiny heads and some come out with really, like freakishly large heads. And eventually, they all grow. So I like to err on the side of caution and go bigger for infant sized hats. If you go too small, the kid may never get to wear the hat. If it’s too big to start with, it’s likely it will fit eventually.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">So I did some research. There are two really important components in both these character hats and those were the colors and the ear shapes and details. Pikachu was easy because he’s generally accepted as a bright yellow color with black. Yoda, on the other hand is green. Not just any green, but a sorta mossy, minty green. He’s minty moss green. Actually, the color on the yarn was something like frosted mint. Either way, Yoda is a light green color. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">In researching images of Yoda and other designs people had used for their Yoda hats, I noticed a disturbing trend: none of these people knew what color Yoda is! Shocking, I know, but take heart gentle readers! For I have carefully constructed a Yoda hat in about as close to his coloring as one could get.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">The other tricky thing about Yoda was the shape of his ears. They aren’t just some form of triangle like a lot of puppet/animal/creature type ears are. They’re all curly and pointy. I looked at what others had done and most of them had weird floppy ears that weren’t the right shape. I was determined to keep this from happening.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Ok, one more stolen image to illustrate the absurd curly/pointiness.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">It turned out to be laughably simple to get the right shape (not that I’m going to share trade secrets :-P) and I managed it on my first try. It’s entirely possibly I may never top the awesomeness of the Yoda hat and honestly, I’m pretty zen about that. If you have to peak young, you may as well peak with the greatest of all the Jedi masters right?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">So, somewhere between Princess Liea, Pikachu, and Yoda, I seem to have found somewhat a niche in what I lovingly call: Nerd Knitting!</div><br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-72327241389109171652011-01-09T23:52:00.000-08:002011-01-18T01:02:41.297-08:00Princess Cinnamon Buns!<div class="MsoNormal">I’m a bit of a geek/nerd in general. Not the kind who can fix your computer or hack into it or program it. More the kind who cut her teeth on Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, and Spider Robinson. I love sci fi and to a lesser degree, some fantasy. My geekosity takes many forms, from being a knitting nerd to a history buff, but the specific realm of geekdom one of my recent projects involves is Star Wars.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am a huge Star Wars fan. Han Solo is my first true love. We’re not talking celebrity crush on Harrison Ford, (though I had one of those too) we’re talking full on in love with Han Solo, the rogue with a heart of gold! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">However, this post is not about Han Solo. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Any girl in love with Han Solo at once wants to be and hates the oh so iconic Princess Leia Organa (eventually Solo…that bitch!). And what says Princess Leia more clearly than the ever recognizable cinnamon bun hairstyle? Nothing, that’s what.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Granted her hair looked better in just about every other hairstyle she wore, but when people think Princess Leia, they think cinnamon buns! Ok, they think of the slave costume as well, but I’m talking about hair here, people!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So I thought it would be fun to knit myself a Princess Leia Cinnamon Bun Hat!!! I looked around online and was not surprised to find that others had also tackled this feat. I did not however end up using anyone’s pattern. I tried a few different styles for the buns and ended up using i-cord. But the whole thing, though not very complicated, was improvised by me. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TSq6WscJN2I/AAAAAAAADUg/CGCGALBFRVQ/s1600/155450_468038013611_508248611_5805176_5012285_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TSq6WscJN2I/AAAAAAAADUg/CGCGALBFRVQ/s320/155450_468038013611_508248611_5805176_5012285_n.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I absolutely love the way this came out…and so did the person who ended up buying it! So the bad news is that I have yet to make a Princess Leia hat for myself (just modeling it in these pics). The good news is that before I even finished knitting this one, I had a customer for it. She absolutely loves it and that honestly makes me (almost) as happy as having one myself. Not to mention, getting paid to knit, which is pretty nifty.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-83060340580795114572010-12-31T22:04:00.000-08:002010-12-31T22:04:04.158-08:00Happy New Year!<div class="MsoNormal">In this blog I’d like to draw attention to another blog: <a href="http://365dayswithjoel.blogspot.com/">http://365dayswithjoel.blogspot.com</a>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I started reading this woman’s regular blog after seeing her post on one of the message boards I frequent. I don’t remember what made me check out her blog but I did and found it rather entertaining. I think it had something to do with cooking, it was amusing and from her blog I learned of Bakerella, one of my now favorite sites!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In reading her blog I saw references to a tragedy that had occurred in her family and so started digging into back blogs to discover what had happened. She had carried her son to term, 40 weeks, only to discover he had no heartbeat in the womb. Her son Joel was born sleeping. Heartbreaking as her story was, I was amazed at the humor, spirit, and strength with which she wrote about her experience.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, when she posted about this project on the boards I was eager to take part in it! Basically the idea is to collect 365 pictures of the name Joel. She wants to make a photobook at the end of the year as a keepsake for her son.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">People are often afraid to mention the name of a lost child at the risk of upsetting the family. However, in my experience, parents and family members of a lost child are often eager to get the chance to talk about their little ones. Our society is uncomfortable with death and would like to sweep it under the rug and hide from it whenever possible. These families are often left feeling rushed to just “get past it” or “move on” and in some horrible cases they are even told to “stop bringing everyone else down”.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I would like to celebrate Joel and his family and all the little ones gone too soon. I think this project is a fabulous way for this family to remember their child and a good way to encourage others who have been told they shouldn’t publicize their tragedy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, onto a more personal note: I never have New Year’s Eve plans, for whatever reason, I never get invited to parties and can never find anything to do. So I tend to be a little annoyed by the holiday. This year I was being a jerk about it to someone I rather care about and I’m sorry for that. It had bothered me all week and I’m ashamed to say I threw a bit of a fit. Not my proudest moment.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For some reason however, I woke up the next day feeling truly over it. I wasn’t annoyed anymore, any jealousy due my lack of plans was gone. For whatever reason, I woke up at peace with it and with an idea. Since I planned to make something for this 365 days with Joel project, I decided I would devote New Year’s Eve to working on the project.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So ladies and gentlemen, that brings me to the actual project for this post. I had a few different ideas floating around for what I’d do but when I sat down to work on it, I discovered that I had…crafters block.</div><div class="MsoNormal">My dad’s apartment building has a communal library for the residents with a table in the back room where people can set out things they no longer need and others can come along and take it if they can use it.</div><div class="MsoNormal">I found a stack of Christmas and holiday cards and decided to grab them and see what I could do with them. The pictures make it pretty obvious what I chose to do with them. I like birds, for me they are a symbol of freedom and renewal. So I cut out all the little red birds I could find and then made Joel’s name with some cute gingham fabric I found in my stash!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m not a religious person, but I am, in general, a somewhat spiritual person. Be it karma or angels or what have you, I like the idea of a guarding force. I like the idea of a lost little one resting peacefully on a fluffy cloud. Say what you will about what that means, I just think it sounds nice. I also think snow angels (or if you’re from California like me, sand angels) are such a fun and natural part of childhood so when I came across the snow angel card I really fell in love with the image. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Inside the other cards I found the letters I needed to make Joel and the word peace. I like to think Joel is at peace knowing his momma is remembering him in such a wonderful way.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, I had planned to make a more permanent project but then I couldn’t figure out what I’d do with the pieces once I was done. So this sort of collage inspired photo project was born. I may make more things for Joel should the mood strike me and if I do, I’ll be sure to share them!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the meantime, I’m pleased with what I’ve come up with and I feel good about using this project to help me bring in the new year.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">I hope 2010 treated you well and I hope 2011 treats you even better. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #ea9999; color: #f4cccc; font-size: x-large;">Happy New Year, Readers!!!</span></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-61215408282209497462010-12-22T20:41:00.000-08:002010-12-22T20:41:35.617-08:00Santa’s Littler Helper!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TRLRlX_LA3I/AAAAAAAADTk/aAFdM-lXFPE/s1600/DSCF1923.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TRLRlX_LA3I/AAAAAAAADTk/aAFdM-lXFPE/s320/DSCF1923.JPG" width="179" /></a></div><br />
I love Christmas time! I also love wearing Santa hats. I’m always on the look out for cool looking Santa hats as soon as the season rolls around. I have a big, soft, fluffy one, and one with a black brim and pom pom on top, I even have a cute felt elf hat with a bell on top.<br />
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But this year I decided what my collection really needed was my very own knit Santa hat!<br />
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I don’t currently knit in the round. Since I am a mostly self taught knitter, I’m still aquiring skills, I can do quite a lot with straight needles but double points and circulars are not something I’m familiar with. Unfortunately, literally every Santa or elf hat pattern is for double point or circular needles. I’ve mastered the beanie on straight needles but I wasn’t exactly sure how to get the cone shape.<br />
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I looked up some patterns and tried to figure out if I could adapt them for straight needles. I found one pattern that looked like it had a straight needle option and kinda skimmed it. And by skimmed it, I mean didn’t pay a lot of attention to what it was saying.<br />
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So I got started on a hat and tried doing what I thought this pattern was telling me to do, which was to knit for about 5 or 6 inches and then start decreasing one on each end every other row…this did not end up going well…you might even say it was an epic fail. I imagine if a better, more experienced knitter were reading this, they would probably laugh at me.<br />
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I am constantly working to improve my knitting skills but I’m not so seasoned that I can always tell how something is going before I finish it. Sometimes things look completely wrong to me right up until I either cast off or sew it up. Anywho, when all was said and done I was left with a hat that looked more like a…well it looked kinda like a mountain with a pointy cliff. This, dear reader, was not the desired result.<br />
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So I took a couple pictures of the monstrosity so I could send them to a friend to laugh at and then decided I would try it the way I had originally thought about doing it.<br />
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Turns out my way was the right way. I basically made my normal beanie shape but put more rows between the decrease rows and started with fewer decreases which essentially made a nice cone shaped hat!<br />
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When the hat came out looking more like a Santa hat should, I made a pom pom for the top, sewed it all together and was quite pleased with the end result.<br />
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I’m rather proud of this hat and I have to say, I get comments every year when I wear my Santa hats around town but I’ve gotten more compliments on this particular knit Santa hat than any other Santa hat I’ve ever worn! It’s kind of a nifty conversation starter, people tell me they like it and then asked if it’s home made. So of course I say it is and that I made it and before you know it I’m discussing crafts with complete strangers!<br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-9574123338685199332010-12-16T21:26:00.000-08:002010-12-16T21:26:00.737-08:00Franken Hat and Franken Baby!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrw4rVN3OI/AAAAAAAADTA/zGZnFEvV5XA/s1600/DSCF0490.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrw4rVN3OI/AAAAAAAADTA/zGZnFEvV5XA/s320/DSCF0490.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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So, I’m trying to get myself back into blogging more regularly. To that end, I thought I’d follow up my last post with a couple of my Franken Projects.<br />
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As soon as Franken Ball was born, I was excited to make something with it. Since I had no idea how it would knit up, I decided to try it out on a hat. Hats are nice and easy and a good way to see what the yarn looks like in a project.<br />
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So I knitted myself this cute little hat with ears! I normally knit my hats with two strands of yarn knitted together. So, for this hat, I used Franken Ball and basic black for the body. For the ears I used Franken yarn knitted with soft, fuzzy yarn.<br />
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I loved how random it came out! Also, when I tie the pieces of yarn together to make Franken Ball, I don’t trim the ends, I leave them sticking out and I like the kinda shabby look it adds to projects made with Franken Ball!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrxGkkxBSI/AAAAAAAADTE/OWVYhO6cnmM/s1600/DSCF0491.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrxGkkxBSI/AAAAAAAADTE/OWVYhO6cnmM/s320/DSCF0491.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrxUAqucLI/AAAAAAAADTI/1CHrBx7axhs/s1600/DSCF0493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrxUAqucLI/AAAAAAAADTI/1CHrBx7axhs/s320/DSCF0493.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrxi6rcrTI/AAAAAAAADTM/klqo2rrBXpw/s1600/DSCF0496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrxi6rcrTI/AAAAAAAADTM/klqo2rrBXpw/s320/DSCF0496.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next project I used Franken Ball for was a gift for my cousin’s baby! The momma to be requested something a little edgier than the classic teddy bear. She suggested something with extra legs and eyes. Obviously I didn’t go that route exactly but it was a good jump off point.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So this is the little monster I made for her little monster! Baby Jax is still a little young to appreciate my handiwork but I hope eventually he does come to enjoy the little guy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Most of Franken Baby’s body is more or less the same as the hat, Franken Ball knitted with black. I got tired of the black and decided to knit the legs with Franken Ball and dark green. The two strands knitted together helps make the weave a little tighter which is good for keeping the stuffing inside. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I embroidered (sorta) a different face on each side of Franken Baby and actually had the head spikes/hair already lying around. I had made it for something else and then changed my mind and used something else it made the perfect spikey topper for the little monster.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrxwcOgqMI/AAAAAAAADTQ/pg4iQo19FwA/s1600/DSCF0593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQrxwcOgqMI/AAAAAAAADTQ/pg4iQo19FwA/s320/DSCF0593.JPG" width="179" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Franken Hat and Franken Baby are both quite soft and fun to touch because there are so many different textures!</div><div><br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-82659129319452293222010-12-09T22:02:00.000-08:002011-04-17T10:27:42.797-07:00Franken Ball<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQHBKXRUulI/AAAAAAAADSo/GI6VObRlTo0/s320/DSCF0604.JPG" width="320" /></div><br />
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It’s high time I introduced you all to Franken Ball!<br />
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As any crafter knows, when the project is done there are always scraps and bits and pieces of crafting materials left over. They are too small to be used again for their original intention but it often feels wrong throwing them away. It could be some extra scraps of material from cutting out a pattern, left over beads from making jewelry, or in my case, left over bits of yarn.<br />
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At the end of every knitting project, even if it’s knit completely in one color you will usually have at least a couple tails left over from your working yarn. These pieces are usually only a few inches long and can’t really be used for another knitting project. I think most people probably toss these. I on the other hand, compulsively save them.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TQHBR09JSsI/AAAAAAAADSw/09qEEnAJrG8/s320/DSCF0607.JPG" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Once I have a good amount, like a plastic baggy full, I sit down and go through them. The ones that are something like 2inches are under go back into a different collection and are used as filling for small things like cherries on top of hats and what not.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anything longer than that gets tied end to end in random order and wound into a ball: Franken Ball.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Franken ball is always different, always’s growing, always random and really fun to work with! I like to find different textures to add to Franken Ball because they really change things up. Once in a while I find a damaged sweater or scarf and pull it apart and add pieces to Franken Ball but for the most part, Franken Ball is made up of pieces of my working yarn or ends of a skein or ball that aren’t useful for anything else.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Most people would probably find tying billions of pieces of yarn together to be pretty tedious but I’ve always had a thing for tedious projects. They keep my hands busy without taking up too much of my brain, I find them soothing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Franken yarn also looks really cool because it is intentionally random, you never know how exactly a project will look! Because I use so many different types of yarn on Franken Ball, I usually knit it with a second yarn to make up for any lack of bulk.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-58359973251868600962010-12-07T22:42:00.000-08:002012-02-17T18:03:41.777-08:00Christmas Ornament Tutorial!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8U2En0bvI/AAAAAAAADRg/Ape6gFcbkO0/s1600/DSCF1901.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8U2En0bvI/AAAAAAAADRg/Ape6gFcbkO0/s320/DSCF1901.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ok, this is my first tutorial, so be gentle with me, dear readers!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My most recent project has been these fun and easy handmade Christmas ornaments! As I’ve said before, I’m normally a knitter, but I have carpal tunnel and sometimes I have to take a break from the knitting. My hands like to be busy though so I decided I needed a simple sewing project. I also needed some easy but cute gifts to give as last minute gifts and to people I don’t know well but am still expected to give a gift to. Extended family, family friends, etc…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I would say this project is definitely beginner friendly! I am not very good when it comes to sewing. I tend to lack the patience for the exact measurements needed for many sewing projects so I like to keep it simple. So I’m short on technical terms here but it’s all pretty easy! So lets get started, shall we?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lets start with what you’ll need:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Whatever fabric catches your eye</li>
<li>A sewing needle</li>
<li>Some thread that works with your fabric</li>
<li>Some buttons (I scavenged mine from some clothing that couldn’t be saved. I like them kinda random)</li>
<li>Scissors</li>
<li>A marker (I used a sharpie, not pictured)</li>
<li>Ribbon, string, or twine</li>
<li>Some fiber fill or whatever you like to stuff things with</li>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">And off we go</div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8VED_exQI/AAAAAAAADRk/GEju-qsJOiY/s1600/DSCF1867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8VED_exQI/AAAAAAAADRk/GEju-qsJOiY/s320/DSCF1867.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Remember how I said I’m not so good with the exact measurements? I turned my fabric over on the back side and folded it in half. Then I drew the pattern on the back side of one half of my folded fabric.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8Vgp7Wd2I/AAAAAAAADRs/5Wkf88YwLj4/s1600/DSCF1875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8Vgp7Wd2I/AAAAAAAADRs/5Wkf88YwLj4/s320/DSCF1875.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8VSsvzhbI/AAAAAAAADRo/dVdIeeyUoJM/s1600/DSCF1871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8VSsvzhbI/AAAAAAAADRo/dVdIeeyUoJM/s320/DSCF1871.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Remember how I said I’m not so good with the exact measurements? I turned my fabric over on the back side and folded it in half. Then I drew the pattern on the back side of one half of my folded fabric.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Then, holding the fabric together (you could pin it first to keep everything in place but I just hold them together) I cut out the shape I’d drawn on my fabric. I used a fine point sharpie. You can use whatever you are comfortable drawing on your fabric with. I knew my pen marks would be hidden by the time I was done so I wasn’t worried about it, I’m a little devil may care with my sewing.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">You could also draw your pattern a little bigger than you intend it to be and cut just inside your lines thus eliminating them completely.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">For reference, my trees are right around 3 inches tall from trunk to tip and 2 ½ inches wide at the widest part </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8VueatZgI/AAAAAAAADRw/GuqHqGTI8CI/s1600/DSCF1877.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8VueatZgI/AAAAAAAADRw/GuqHqGTI8CI/s320/DSCF1877.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">So, now I have two Christmas tree shapes and some scraps. For this one I tried using my scraps to stuff my tree, it wasn’t quite enough and in the future I will stick with fiber fill but if you have enough scraps, it’s a nice way to use every part of your fabric. Plus, if you’re lazy like me, it’s less clean up!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8V8DYavgI/AAAAAAAADR0/iQzXSdlZqGQ/s1600/DSCF1878.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8V8DYavgI/AAAAAAAADR0/iQzXSdlZqGQ/s320/DSCF1878.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now we begin sewing. I used a blanket stitch but you could use just about any stitch you’re comfortable with. I imagine you could make a ton of these if you used a sewing machine but sewing machines and I never got along and they don’t give me the busy, happy hands feeling I get from hand sewing things. What’s nice about these is that I wanted them to look handmade and a little rustic so if your stitches are a little uneven it just adds to that affect! </div><div class="MsoNormal">I should also mention that you could straight pin your pieces together before you start sewing but for something this small, I didn’t bother. Lol I usually end up stabbing myself with the straight pins so I use them as little as possible.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8ahgnRRlI/AAAAAAAADR4/P2eVXsZcWHY/s1600/DSCF1883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8ahgnRRlI/AAAAAAAADR4/P2eVXsZcWHY/s320/DSCF1883.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Since I used a wider piece of ribbon, I had to switch to your average run of the mill stitch for the apex of the tree. This is where the button comes in handy later. The button, or your tree topper, if you will, helps distract from the fact that stitch changes.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">To add the ribbon I slid it between the two pieces of fabric. I placed it down just far enough so that the corners of the ribbon were hidden within the body of the tree. You can just hold it in place but I found it much easier to just put a pin in it. Everything stays in place and your fingers don’t have to worry about holding onto the ribbon as well. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8lWR-YRSI/AAAAAAAADSg/36xLBhKYEtM/s1600/DSCF1887.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TP8lWR-YRSI/AAAAAAAADSg/36xLBhKYEtM/s320/DSCF1887.JPG" width="179" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">So continue stitching everything closed. On the second side of the tree I stitched a little more and then with about an inch opening left, I stuffed my tree. You’ll want to make sure you stuff the trunk of the tree and make sure some filling gets into the tip of the tree so it’s not floppy. I used the end of a knitting needle to get the filling into the small spaces but you could use just about anything, the end of a pen, or your fingers if they aren’t all pudgy like mine.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Once stuffed, finish sewing up the side and you’re almost done! Sew a button tree topper on each side of your tree so it looks good from all angles and you’re done!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Merry </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">Christmas</span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Author: Sweet Von Pea (AKA Meagan Ingerman)</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-32458687598071300662010-09-29T15:20:00.000-07:002010-09-29T15:20:47.929-07:00What A Hoot!So, since I cannot knit these days I’ve been doing some sewing projects. I’m not a very good seamstress but I am good at faking it till it looks like something recognizable.<br />
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I realize owls are really trendy right now and I’m generally not a trendy person but I also refuse to deny my enjoyment of something just because it is trendy at the moment. To that end, I’ve been working on some stuffed owls!<br />
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These guys are a little weird but I think they came out pretty cute! What’s more, they are mostly upcycled materials, the rest are fat quarters. I love collecting fat quarters with awesome prints!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TKO45niU39I/AAAAAAAADRA/DX3G_m1J11w/s1600/DSCF0927.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TKO45niU39I/AAAAAAAADRA/DX3G_m1J11w/s320/DSCF0927.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This little guy's body is made from a discarded button down shirt, the green for the feet and eyes is made with scavenged felt, and the lighter part of the eyes is khaki from an old pair of pants. The triangle on top is made from my fat quarter collection. for my attempt, I'm really proud of how he came out!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TKO5wZg_BDI/AAAAAAAADRQ/Hbx1SusTv_Y/s1600/DSCF0966.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TKO5wZg_BDI/AAAAAAAADRQ/Hbx1SusTv_Y/s320/DSCF0966.JPG" width="179" /></a></div>Lol, this next little guy looks kinda like Frankenstein...Frankenowl! His body is made from an old set of capris, i used the same scavenged felt for the eyes, beak, and to give the feet more structure. The feet, eyes, and triangle are, again from my fat quarter collection!<br />
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So the design still needs some perfecting but I'm pretty happy with my creations!Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-64599388096619562832010-09-09T17:55:00.000-07:002010-09-09T18:10:45.212-07:00Me: A Collage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TIl3FcTWQmI/AAAAAAAADOA/zbb7BVR7SPs/s1600/DSCF0879.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TIl3FcTWQmI/AAAAAAAADOA/zbb7BVR7SPs/s320/DSCF0879.JPG" /></a></div>I know, I know, it’s been a while since I last posted. Life has been a bit busy and there has been some bad news but today I finally go around to photographing a project I wanted to share. <br />
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Up until the other day I was doing a ton of knitting so I have a good amount of knitting pictures and some new projects that I need to take pictures with but today I want to share another non knitting related project. I had fun showing off my door display in the last post so I thought I’d finally take this baby down off the shelf and get some good pics of it while the lighting is good.<br />
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I guess it was the spring before last that I took an art history class. I was just working on some general ed credits. It fit my schedule and more importantly, it was at the extension campus in my town so I could walk there instead of taking the two busses it takes to get to the main campus!<br />
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Anywho, along with a journaly type thing that I kinda half assed, the major semester project was a collage piece that represented our lives or an important aspect of our lives. You know how it goes with artists, you aim for one thing and sorta see how it comes out in the wash.<br />
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When I was very young, my dad taught me to sew by drawing a picture on a piece of fabric and telling me to follow the line with the needle. I can now do some more practical sewing, mending seams, replacing buttons, sewing together pieces for a project, etc… But one of the things I still get great joy from is this amateur sort of embroidering. <br />
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So, I bought a piece of foam board, mapped out some randomly sized squares and rectangles in pencil and got to work. At first I tried just following the line but it turns out foam board is a somewhat different animal than fabric. <br />
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In sewing on the trim I realized that I needed to pre-poke the holes in order to get the needle through…then I realized I needed to put some thought into where I poked the holes if I wanted a design and not a mess. I gave myself about 2 weeks to finish this bad boy and know now that it’s more like a month long project…especially since I was working , babysitting, and going to school at the time. <br />
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Anywho, I would sit for hours just poking holes with a straight pin along the lines I’d mapped out. That took forever, but it was the easy part. I then had to decide what the heck I was going to put on this thing!<br />
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In the daycare I worked in, I’d been going through magazines collecting images for the kids to use for their own collages. Collages were my professor’s main focus this semester so it kinda blend into other aspects of my life. So I went through the images I’d cut out for the kids and selected some of those, printed some pictures off the internet, printed out some of my own photographs and filled in with some embroidery on the board itself and some small embroidery projects I’d done in the past and a couple I did specifically for this project.<br />
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This post will be more picture heavy than usual but I’m very proud of this thing. Lol, I’m an artist in my own way but I don’t draw, stick figures tend to give me trouble. So I felt good when the other art students in my class ooed and ahhed over my project. It seems kind of silly but those little bits of validation can make a big difference for one’s ego. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The back is one of my favorite parts. the front is neatly arranged the way we try to present ourselves to the world and the back...like the inside of my head, is chaos. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TIl7_h_kpXI/AAAAAAAADQ4/z0mPg2Wsv7M/s320/DSCF0920.JPG" /></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-83053763469115136402010-08-27T23:32:00.000-07:002010-08-27T23:33:09.869-07:00"Would You Like to Swing on a Star, Carry Moonbeams Home in a Jar..."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THisOfDcbcI/AAAAAAAADNI/3vpGpyy1Ck4/s1600/100_6846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THisOfDcbcI/AAAAAAAADNI/3vpGpyy1Ck4/s320/100_6846.JPG" /></a></div>So you may recall that in the beginning it mentioned that this was supposed to be a craft blog. Not just knitting but all my crafty pursuits. These days most of my crafting involves knitting but I do put my energies towards other projects from time to time.<br />
By each doorway in my dad’s apartment building there is a little ledge. It would probably be more practical to use it to rest groceries or mail and the like while unlocking the door but most use it for flowers and seasonal displays.<br />
My dad and I have had a good time setting up all sorts of little tableaus with things like green army men toys and action figures. My dad’s apartment building is actually rent controlled for seniors, I think it’s 55 and over. After a while we noticed that some of the stuff we used to disappearing or getting moved around by kids coming to visit their grandparents and in some cases, grown ups who never learned to keep their hands to themselves. So we had stopped creating displays for a while but recently we decided it was time to put up something new.<br />
To that end, I present the final frontier! Complete with aliens and space ships and glitter glue! I had a fabulous time putting this one together. I am always excited to play with glitter and glitter glue!<br />
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To put it mildly, he is a dragon enthusiast and amongst friends, goes by The Dragon.<br />
So I started making him a stuffed dragon like Phineas…but that turned into this scarf. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going with it at first but I really love the way it came out and so did he which is the really important part! In his words it was “full of win!”<br />
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I had some issues with the horns and I need to play with the head design a bit for future iterations but I really love how this project came out and I hope you enjoy it as well!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THNA_6aTHzI/AAAAAAAADMo/4fcJ0jzGknY/s1600/DSCF0630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THNA_6aTHzI/AAAAAAAADMo/4fcJ0jzGknY/s320/DSCF0630.JPG" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THNBNcse1rI/AAAAAAAADMw/yp7SPdLfOnw/s1600/DSCF0633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THNBNcse1rI/AAAAAAAADMw/yp7SPdLfOnw/s320/DSCF0633.JPG" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THNBZvderqI/AAAAAAAADM4/UtLujQsJClw/s1600/DSCF0637.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THNBZvderqI/AAAAAAAADM4/UtLujQsJClw/s320/DSCF0637.JPG" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THNBni93vRI/AAAAAAAADNA/uC6QDk7sgsE/s1600/DSCF0650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/THNBni93vRI/AAAAAAAADNA/uC6QDk7sgsE/s320/DSCF0650.JPG" /></a></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-6394704981328769212010-08-21T01:34:00.000-07:002010-08-21T01:37:12.769-07:00Oy VeyDear Readers (all 2 of you),<br />
I am sorry to have been so remiss in my blogging. I won’t give you the whole long sob story (for now anyway) but I have a nasty back and neck injury and sometimes I just need some time away from the computer. I also, unfortunately, have had to take a little time from my knitting as well. My neck injury involves a very pinched and very angry nerve which causes some pretty nasty pain in my hand and wrist.<br />
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Fear not though, gentle reader! I persist in my crafting pursuits and will shortly have some new and old projects to post.<br />
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Also, I was going to wait (thought I don’t know what for) to say anything but I figure now is as good a time as any really to put the bug in your ear. Sometime in September, I should be starting an Etsy shop. Now I know what you’re saying: “not you too! Everyone and their brother has one of those!”<br />
And I cannot argue with you, seems like everyone either has one or knows someone who has one. I’m not much for bandwagons but I’ve had a few requests for pieces here and there and a commission or two so I figure I’ll try my hand and listing some of my stuff!<br />
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So, if you’ve looked at my knitwear and thought “gee, I’d like one of those” this could be your chance! Also, this is a good time to mention via comments if there is something you see that you might actually consider buying!<br />
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There will be more information as things progress but I think that covers everything for now.<br />
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Have a nice day!Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-7341002463839683612010-08-04T05:43:00.001-07:002010-08-26T17:52:20.561-07:00Feed Your Head (it's a little weird how often Jefferson Airplane is totally appropriate!)<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CMeagan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CMeagan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData"></link><link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CMeagan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping"></link><style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I love cupcakes! I’m a big fan of dessert in general but specifically, I love cupcakes. They’re fun to decorate and cute and little. I love cupcake jewelry, I love cupcake accessories…I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m crazy about cupcakes!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">To that end, I submit for your approval, the cupcake hat!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I found a picture of a baby wearing something similar to this and thought to myself “self, you could totally make one of those. Furthermore, self, you could make one adult sized!” Sometimes my self is pretty smart. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In a rather fortunate turn of events, I had just scored some really yummy fluffy yarn at Big Lots on sale! It worked perfectly for the frosting on my cupcake hat! Also, I love to recycle or upcycle as much as I possibly can because crafting supplies get expensive, especially when you’re a yarn junkie like me. So the berry on top of the cupcake is stuffed with used bits of yarn cut off the ends of finished pieces!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TFlfjx7IBpI/AAAAAAAADMQ/vIKBNQSGL7E/s320/DSCF0498.JPG" /> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TFlfxQsEfHI/AAAAAAAADMY/pDKQ6h_oVBA/s1600/DSCF0497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TFlfxQsEfHI/AAAAAAAADMY/pDKQ6h_oVBA/s320/DSCF0497.JPG" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-30482471901596437182010-07-28T04:45:00.000-07:002010-08-26T17:51:08.938-07:00Phineas The Dragon!I have always liked dragons. My dad was always into fantasy and sci fi and he got me into it as well. It started with fairy-tales and children’s books about dragons and unicorns, he even made up wonderful stories for me about fairies and far away lands.<br />
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I still have a major fascination with all these fantasy elements and dragons are no exception! So it stands to reason that I had to try knitting a dragon!<br />
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This little bugger caused me a great deal of annoyance. There are some patterns out there but most were either crochet or utilized techniques I have yet to master. I am far too stubborn to let lack of a pattern or ability stop me from making whatever the heck I want to so I soldiered on.<br />
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I drew inspiration from the knit and crochet patterns I couldn’t follow and also from plush dragons made of cloth trying to find a body and head shape I could adapt.<br />
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I would get an idea, get really excited and then have it not quite come together and have to put the project down for a few days. All told I think he took about 3 weeks because I kept putting him down and having to undo what I’d started.<br />
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For a first attempt though, I’m really very happy with him. <br />
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I am proud to present Phineas the Dragon!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TFAYC6AJQHI/AAAAAAAADMI/tE5EL6-bvNU/s1600/100_7545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TFAYC6AJQHI/AAAAAAAADMI/tE5EL6-bvNU/s320/100_7545.JPG" /></a></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-23784656650251496862010-07-26T18:35:00.000-07:002010-08-26T18:00:39.167-07:00Hello Dolly!I had been thinking about how to make a doll for a while when I came across a good reason to try it out. The goth nightclub I go to from time to time had a Goths in Pajamas themed party. Originally I figured I would make a cute goth costume for one of my stuffed animals and in the process ended up making a goth doll!<br />
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This is Alice Malice. She comes complete with goth dress, red tights, black shoes, red and black hair and laced up gauntlets! <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">She even has lingerie!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TE43E3Gx5eI/AAAAAAAADLY/W_pRF8XWjOg/s1600/25896_382381783611_508248611_3908101_2451129_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TE43E3Gx5eI/AAAAAAAADLY/W_pRF8XWjOg/s320/25896_382381783611_508248611_3908101_2451129_n.jpg" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TE43G1RAnZI/AAAAAAAADLg/qcqctlXurBU/s1600/25896_382436553611_508248611_3909468_1650129_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TE43G1RAnZI/AAAAAAAADLg/qcqctlXurBU/s320/25896_382436553611_508248611_3909468_1650129_n.jpg" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TE43KOxhpqI/AAAAAAAADLo/S_gKyoMuI78/s1600/25896_382436563611_508248611_3909469_1793437_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TE43KOxhpqI/AAAAAAAADLo/S_gKyoMuI78/s320/25896_382436563611_508248611_3909469_1793437_n.jpg" /></a></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-62510839897931050852010-07-21T03:18:00.000-07:002010-07-21T03:18:08.257-07:00Piece of CakeWell they say necessity is the mother of invention, usually my knitting invention necessities are gift giving occasions.<br />
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This one was for my dad’s birthday. He asked me to make something interesting for him so after several attempts at a knit birthday card I finally realized it would be a lot smarter to make a cake!<br />
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Then I realized I didn’t know how to make a circle thus making it harder to make a whole cake. Luckily I’m not a complete dork and I realized I could make triangles and rectangles which were enough to make a piece of cake!<br />
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I absolutely love how this project came out and so did my dad! He took it to work and left it on his desk to show it off and people kept walking in and thinking it was real cake!<br />
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The candle kinda confounded me for a while, I couldn’t figure out how to do the flame or get it to stand up and then I stumbled across some sparkly pipe cleaners in our craft stuff. BINGO!<br />
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Also, in case you’re wondering, the first picture is of how I wrapped the cake to give it to my dad…you know, because when you send someone home with a piece of cake you put it on a paper plate and cover it in tinfoil!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TEbI-jcpRFI/AAAAAAAADLA/DjJjQ_eGG0w/s1600/100_7323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TEbI-jcpRFI/AAAAAAAADLA/DjJjQ_eGG0w/s320/100_7323.JPG" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TEbJHCzhXYI/AAAAAAAADLI/xYMIKLswxaY/s1600/100_7318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TEbJHCzhXYI/AAAAAAAADLI/xYMIKLswxaY/s320/100_7318.JPG" /></a></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6395971702625657822.post-76011295933732483642010-07-18T00:56:00.000-07:002010-07-18T00:56:08.197-07:00Mother's Day KnittingYeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I’m way late with this one, just like with the Father’s Day post. I had originally planned to post most of my projects in the more or less the order I did them and then post as I finished things but its turning out more random than that. <br />
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Lol, I was also going to post at regular intervals… the best laid plans, eh?<br />
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Anywho, since I posted my Father’s Day Projects I decided tonight I should post my Mother’s Day projects as well. <br />
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For dad I chose some classic gifts to make, for mom I had some trouble deciding what to do. I ended up with a pillow and a flower. I found a nifty pattern for a heart though I learned that the heart needed to be knitted in a different color. The hearts are very hard to see in person and don’t really show up in the photos but there is a heart knitted into the center of each pink square and a big heart on the black side. The word “Mom” sewn into the heart…lol it was supposed to be kinda like a tattoo!<br />
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The flower design needs some work but I was actually pretty happy with it for a first try!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TEKy7upxihI/AAAAAAAADKo/cHgxGaE9j4I/s1600/100_7425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4m9pm60bito/TEKy7upxihI/AAAAAAAADKo/cHgxGaE9j4I/s320/100_7425.JPG" /></a></div>Sweet Von Peahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08838748852995538260noreply@blogger.com0