Lots of Crocheted Play Food

Ah--another extremely after the fact blog post. I guess I should just be happy that I manage to get them up at all.

Last month I finished a project I've been working on for about six months--a ton of crocheted play food for our friends' little boy, Wyatt. I've got loads of pictures so I'm going to split this into two posts so as not to overwhelm you. I apologize for some of the picture quality, but I'm working with what I've got. I'll post the pattern when there was one.


All of the food--I don't think it looks like even close to as much as it felt like.


The apple was made from this pattern--I believe I followed the directions pretty faithfully.


The cookies were just made up as I went along. People didn't seem to know that the sugar cookies were cookies without me telling them, however.


Carrots were again just made up as I went along--trial and error. I kept deciding that they weren't carroty enough and ripping out half my work and I still don't completely love the way they turned out.


I used this pattern for the radishes, which I absolutely adore. Wyatt's present was almost short a couple of radishes because they were just so darn cute that I wanted to keep them.

More pictures to come...

Super Cute Baby Hat (For a Super Cute Baby)

My friends' daughter, Maia, had her first birthday in November. I didn't have her birthday hat done at the time--bad Liz!--and didn't see them again until last month so she got it then. (In the meantime, I redid the entire hat to make it bigger.) And I'm just now managing to post about it.



I made it from my hand dyed wool in the colorway Nightswimming and I used the knit Aviatrix Baby Hat pattern which can be downloaded free from Ravelry. I think it's adorable even if it is a bit big. And maybe she can wear it next year.

Books Read in 2009

When I changed my blog layout over the summer, one of the things I added was a continually updating list of all the books I read during the year. I meant to post about it, but never quite got around to it. I am a voracious reader--I have been as long as I can remember. In 2008, I started keeping track of all of the books I read because I was curious about how many I read in a year. I enjoyed having the list since I tend to be on the forgetful side and sometimes forget what I've read, so I continued it in 2009. I read 56 books in 2008 and 78 in 2009. (Those numbers don't include comics--unless the comics were bound into a book--and it doesn't include crafty or cook books.) I don't know the reason for the huge difference in numbers--I guess we will see what this year brings.

Here's the final list for last year:

1. Man Plus - Frederik Pohl
2. Not With a Bang - Chapman Pincher
3. Childhood’s End - Arthur C. Clarke
4. The Space Merchants - Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth
5. The Second Trip - Robert Silverberg
6. The Margarets - Sheri S. Tepper
7. The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler
8. The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau
9. He, She and It - Marge Piercy
10. Masters of Everon - Gordon R. Dickson
11. Coraline - Neil Gaiman
12. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
13. The Infinity Box - Kate Wilhelm
14. Solar Lottery - Philip K. Dick
15. The Ladies of Grace Adieu - Susanna Clarke
16. Sardonicus - Ray Russell
17. We Who Are About To... - Joanna Russ
18. Redwall - Brian Jacques
19. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
20. View From Another Shore - Franz Rottensteiner (ed.)
21. Batman: Year One - Frank Miller
22. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Frank Miller
23. The Crucible of Time - John Brunner
24. Monument - Lloyd Biggle, Jr.
25. Imperial Earth - Arthur C. Clarke
26. Now You See It... - Richard Matheson
27. City of Illusions - Ursula K. LeGuin
28. Enchantress From the Stars - Sylvia Engdahl
29. Downward to the Earth - Robert Silverberg
30. Highway of Eternity - Clifford D. Simak
31. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells (audio)
32. Always Coming Home - Ursula K. LeGuin
33. Years of the City - Frederik Pohl
34. Matilda - Roald Dahl
35. Shock III - RIchard Matheson
36. The Peace War - Vernor Vinge
37. The Eyes of Heisenberg - Frank Herbert
38. Looking Backward From the Year 2000 - Mack Reynolds
39. Stress Pattern - Neal Barrett Jr.
40. Two Views of Wonder - Thomas N. Scortia and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (ed.)
41. Gathering Blue - Lois Lowry
42. Island in the Sea of Time - S.M. Stirling
43. Planet of Exile - Ursula K. LeGuin
44. Devil in a Blue Dress - Walter Mosley
45. Those Who Watch - Robert Silverberg
46. The Santaroga Barrier - Frank Herbert
47. Spaceling - Doris Piserchia
48. Truckers - Terry Pratchett
49. Diggers - Terry Pratchett
50. Wings - Terry Pratchett
51. Woe Is I - Patricia T. O’Conner
52. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Master’s Choice - Alfred Hitchcock (ed.)
53. Five Children and It - E. Nesbit
54. He Is Legend - Christopher Conlon (ed.)
55. Tor Double #4 (Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo - John Varley and The Star Pit - Samuel R. Delany)
56. The Stars, Like Dust - Isaac Asimov
57. The Currrents of Space - Isaac Asimov
58. A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
59. The Infinitive of Go - John Brunner
60. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
61. Through Darkest America - Neal Barret, Jr.
62. In Deep - Damon Knight
63. Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
64. Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture - Ariel Levy
65. A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
66. The Life of Pi - Yann Martel
67. Riddley Walker - Russel Hoban
68. Seven-Day Magic - Edward Eager
69. Reach For Tomorrow - Arthur C. Clarke
70. The Stainless Steel Rat - Harry Harrison
71. The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge - Harry Harrison
72. The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World - Harry Harrison
73. The Girl Who Owned a City - O.T. Nelson
74. King’s Blood Four - Sheri S. Tepper
75. Necromancer Nine - Sheri S. Tepper
76. Wizard’s Eleven - Sheri S. Tepper
77. The Sheep Look Up - John Brunner
78. Under the Dome - Stephen King

If anyone would like to discuss books with me or suggest any that they think I might like, I would love that. Really--please do. I would also like to take this opportunity to say that I sometimes read books because of their badness (I like bad movies too.) so please don't assume that I think the books I read are all good. Sometimes the absolute horribleness of a book makes it incredibly entertaining. At least to me.

SALE in My Etsy Shop

I'm having a small end of the year clearance sale on felted clutches and pouches in my Etsy shop. I'm clearing out these lines to make room for new ones. Including several different kinds of fingerless gloves.




I also neglected to ever mention how the Flint Handmade Holiday Craft Market went after posting about my panic. I had more than enough stuff--as usual I overdid it. But at least now I have plenty of stock. I had a lovely time at the show. Everyone was super nice and friendly and I sold well enough to make it completely worth my time. I will definitely make it a point to try to get into Flint Handmade events in the future.

New Facebook Fan Page

I now have a Facebook fan page. Whoo hoo! It's very new and I'm still not quite sure what I'm doing, but if you are on Facebook and would like to be kept up to date on sales in my shop and new designs I'm working on, please become a fan.

On the new designs front, I now have felted bowls available in my shop. Perfect to put on your nightstand for storing all the little things in your pockets at the end of the day.

Craft Show Panic

The Flint Handmade Holiday Craft Market is this Saturday so I am having my usual last minute panic about not having enough ready. Which is obviously why I am still up and posting rather than working on more stuff. I don't know if anyone local reads this blog, but if you're near Flint, MI on Saturday between 10 and 4, please stop in and say hi. I will be in the Crim Fitness Foundation near the back. More details are on the flyer I posted a few weeks ago.

I am always intensely curious about what becomes of the supplies I make, so I always ask people who buy supplies from me to send pictures of the things they use them for. In October (and yes, I am just now remembering to post about it), I received a lovely message from Tracy--who bought the beads below--asking if she could mention my shop when posting about the adorable cupcake pincushions she made on her blog. Thanks again, Tracy for letting me see my beads out in the world.

Baby Blanket Addition

I left out an important baby blanket update in my last post. Last year I made a baby blanket for my friends' son, Wyatt. I guess Wyatt has become quite fond of lying under it. And he sure takes a cute picture.