I took pictures every day, not particularly exciting pictures, but photos nonetheless. It's been a very tough, busy week, and next week will be even more so. We went from -28 for the last three weeks to above freezing. (I understand the rest of the country has our cold streak now, you have my sympathy.) It got up to 44 the last few days. This included a snow storm in between -28 and 44 and then some rain, and now a huge wind storm. The snow/rain on top of our normal winter layer of inches of hard packed snow on every surface creates some dangerous situations. Wednesday was really bad, the roads were barely drivable, just ice skating rinks, a lot of stuff was closed including the schools. Naturally the library was open, and I made it by driving only about 5 miles an hour. Only a couple of people made it to storytime. Everything was melting and then turning back to ice, seriously dangerous. The library remained open Thursday and Friday, but the schools were closed. Thursday I could maybe understand, but today made no sense. Oh well. The library was a madhouse of kids with nothing to do. It got a bit stressful. I took this evening as a night off, not even going to the gym, I just couldn't be around people at all anymore today. We'll see how tomorrow goes, and then I get a three day weekend. Though I have so much to do to prep for next week that I would almost rather work.

And now on to the photos. They're all bits of miscellanea, random snapshots into my world.

( Year of PHotos, Days 10 through 16 )

And that does it for photos for this week. I'm off to revert to my comatose state.

Recently I've been having fun experimenting with amigurumi, that is the Japanese art of crocheting cute creatures. Well you can crochet or knit, but I'm a much better crocheter than knitter so that is what I do. Today's picture is the one I've most lately finished. He's a snowman and a gift for someone whose been traveling through the holidays.

( Year of Photos Day 6: Amigurumi Snowman )

I've been working off some free patterns I found online for these guys. I've given them all away as gifts. I just requested some books through interlibrary loan on amigurumi creatures, and I think a few more to practice and I'll be able to free form and create my own patterns. I love making them and they go over really well as gifts. Bonus photos to follow of the other little guys I've given away this season.

( more photos of amigurumi creations )

I am thinking of a monkey for my next little guy. Any thoughts?

Here is a little on screen message, that one would only see in Alaska.
"Breaking news: The Anchorage Police are warning the public to stay away from Bicentennial Park. A woman was attacked by a bear this afternoon. The police will be combing the area with their guns drawn."

This is funny to me. Very funny. I repeated it to a friend who was concerned about the danger posed by bear. I think the greater danger will be the trigger happy police.

I've also done a lot of sewing this weekend. I bought a pair of pants about a year ago that fit me just awfully. (I have no idea what I was thinking because everything that could go wrong with them on my body, does.) It was either throw them away or give them away. So I chose option number three, remake them. I made them into a skirt. It was my first attempt at clothing transformation, and I was not using a pattern. I don't love it, but I like it a great deal.

( pictures under here )

I'm sitting here, ready for work a few minutes early, drinking coffee and eating fruit (yum and double yum) and so I thought I'd write this long overdue post that has been bopping around my head for a while. Here is life according to me.

• Most importantly, two weeks ago (July 28) was my six month anniversary of arriving in Alaska. This week was my six month anniversary of working at my job. I will have a longer post about that later. The first six months in almost any government job is probationary. I passed my six month review (with flying colors), am not getting fired and sent back to Kansas, and got my raise (step increase as they like to say). All very cool things.
  
• At the Deaf retreat, there was a misprint on the schedule that advertised "s'mores with delicious heresy bars" instead of Hershey's bars. It cracked me up, especially since we were at a church event, so thus it becomes a blog post.
  
• For years and years and years, I've dreamed of learning to make stained glass. There was a place on my drive home that taught classes and I never signed up. I was looking through the parks and rec activities guide and I spotted a stained glass class that began in August. The time was right, the price was right, I was ecstatic. I called to sign up, and the parks and rec office had no idea what I was talking about. They finally asked what page I was looking at in the guide. I told them, and that was when I realized I was reading the Summer 2007 guide. (Silly library that throws nothing away.) I was unbelievably bummed. I'd been looking forward to this since May. The instructor's number is listed in the guide, so I called her to see if she had any other, private, classes starting soon. Low and behold, she does. There's a class starting same day of the week/time in September, and the price is up only $5. I signed up through her rather than waiting for the parks and rec guide and I'm in! I'm back to being REALLY excited about it. I'll post pictures of any of my completed works.
  
• That frantic scrambling noise you hear? In my stained glass class, I get to use glass cutters, lead sodder, and perhaps a soddering flame thingy. So that noise you hear, is my parents frantically alerting the church prayer lists to start praying for me. I'll post pictures of any injuries.
  
• This week at work, I'm trying a new program, it's an "I'm Ready for Kindergarten" program for new Kindergarteners. We're not teaching skills, we're just celebrating this milestone. Next week school starts. I have no idea how many people to expect at this thing. Could be 7 or could be 70 and neither would surprise me. I'm doing it twice, once in the evening for working parents, once during the day. In the last week, a number of people have made a point of telling me they're coming to it, so I'm getting really excited. Also at work I'm starting a book club for early elementary. That was one of my favorite things about my last job, so it is fun.
  
• In crafty news, I am working on a cool hidden cat scarf, a crocheted sock monkey, a blanket from a kit from the craft store that is made of different blocks of colors, and I'm turning a pair of pants into a skirt. I have that all torn apart and pinned together. But I'm getting the idea from a pattern I saw in a book I don't have in my hands right now. I'm going to wait for the book before I do the final sewing.
  
• Bought my tickets to Vegas. Only three months. So excited!
  
• I gave my cat actual catnip for the first time. I'd only given her toys with catnip in it before. She loves it. She eats it, then rolls on that part of the floor, and then just hangs out there for a while. She always ignored the fresh catnip plant I had in the window in KC, but loves the dried stuff. Go figure.
  

So I started sewing again. Well something worth posting at least. I made some rice bags. Basically they're sewn up tubes filled with rice. You microwave them for 30 to 45 seconds and they retain heat really well. They're heating pads that are safe to fall asleep with (unlike the plug in electric type) and you're not tied to a cord or an outlet. I added some essential oil scent to the rice so they smell good when microwaved. I made little slipcovers for them out of flannel. The little pillow case style slipcovers make the bags even more comfy and the cover can be slipped off and stuck in the wash. (You can not wash the rice bag without ending up with a gross mess of partially cooked rice.) I sewed some velcro into the tops of the bags as a closure. Mine are long narrow tubes to go on my lower back and around my neck. They can be made in any shape though.

( click for picture )

It's not much, but it was a fun, easy, and really useful project. Anyone want one?

Fun Alternative use for rice bag heating pads: If you life in a cold climate (like say Alaska), and you have a pet who is sensitive or unused to the cold weather (like an indoor cat or a hedgehog), toss a warmed up rice bag in their carrier if you have to take them on a winter-time trip to the vet. Or just give it to them to cuddle on a particularly chilly day so they can stay by their favorite drafty window spot. (Yes my cat is spoiled.)

So I did some more crafty stuff this weekend. Well the last couple of weeks really.

First off I made a pink tote bag. It's either a small tote bag or a large purse. I've not decided. I used fabric for the outside from the home decor section, but the inside was a normal calico. It's a shiny dark pink with lighter pink spirals. The reverse side (that I used for the pocket) is a lighter pink with darker pink spirals. the lining is light pink with sparkly threads running through the plaid. It's super pretty. I made some minor errors and not so minor errors. I ended up ripping out a huge section and redoing it. That was last night, I just kept working, it was still light outside. Then I realized it was midnight. It was still light out! That might explain some of the problems I was having. I fixed the errors and put it aside for finishing touches this morning (I have today off since Monday is my normal day off, today is my holiday). There were some other errors that weren't as easily fixable. I hand sewed part of it, and decided to accept it as less than perfect (for a perfectionist like me this is a big deal). You have to know your stuff to see the errors, from a glance it looks good.

( clicky for pictures )

As an early birthday gift, my mom sent me some fabric to crochet into a rug. It was already partially cut into strips (all but the top and bottom 3/4 inch). You sew the strips together to make one really long strip of fabric and use it as "thread" with a really big crochet needle to make a rug. It's a rag rug thing. There's a trick to sewing the strips together so you can sew one large swath instead of lots of little individual strips. Then I wound the strips into a ball. The large ball of fabric looks so cool I'm loath to start crocheting it. (I have started). Jane Austen loved the strips of fabric, she kept batting at them. And when they were piled up to be sewn together and wound up, she thought they made a great nest. She plopped herself down in it, poofed it up, and was not pleased when I took her nest away. I did get a picture though.

( fabric ball and Jane Austen's fabric nest )

I'll post pictures of the rug when I'm done.

Recently I decided to crochet a cat hat. I had been intrigued by these directions. With only a few modifications, they worked great. And as the directions implied, cats aren't thrilled with them. I also made one for a coworkers cat. I finally got Jane Austen to wear it with a minimum of complaining and no scars on me.

( click for pictures and captions )

More pictures available on my flickr.

P.S. I have no idea why the pictures are so fuzzy. They weren't so fuzzy on my computer screen - they looked great there. Oh well.

Enjoy! And as I used to do, I leave you with song lyrics not necessarily related to anything.

***************************
Why do I bother
When you're not the one for me?
Ooooh...
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes
I saw the sign.
-Ace of Base

I bet you thought I forgot to ever update again... Well no. I've actually had quite a bit going on. I'll try to update about it all in the next few days.

I've updated the sidebar to include links to my photo albums on photobucket and flickr.

I've got a lot to say, my goal is one post a day every day this week. I'll tell you about all the fun we've been having here in Anchorage.

Today's post is about sewing. I got a sewing machine for Christmas. I mentioned to my very awesome parents last fall that I wanted to get back into sewing, and they found a machine on sale and got it for me. It rocks. I've been browsing on the internet for projects and checking books out from the library. I have all sorts of fun ideas for projects.

However I haven't sewed in over a decade. (More like 15 years, I was about 10 or 11 the last time at the oldest.) It was mostly coming back to me; the part that was the hardest was remembering how to thread the machine. Especially the bobbin. I got it so that it seems right (though it didn't match the picture in the instruction manual), but whenever I tried to backtrack to lock the stitches it got tangled. I was so frustrated I was about to cry. Finally I put it aside and went to sleep since I couldn't call my sewing advisor (my amazing quilter mother) at that time (very late in the night in Central time). First order of the day the next day was to call mom and see what was going on. We spent a lot of time discussing the bobbin and I cracked mom up with my description of part of the bobbin case as being shaped like Texas. Which of course led to mom's advice to put the thread along the Rio Grande river. Hee, and that made sense. Mom couldn't diagnose the problem, but after a few more minutes I realized I was making a silly (but rather logical) error. And all of a sudden, I was in business, sewing away!

I had picked up for my beginner (re-beginner) project some pillow forms and materials to make some throw pillow covers. I now have pretty throw pillows with fun colors that I chose and covers that can be removed and washed. I'm ridiculously proud of these.

( clicky for picture of my pillow project! )