When Disney announced their 2010 promotion of Give a Day, Get a Disney Day, I knew I wanted to volunteer on some level, even if I only re-gifted the ticket to another charity. Luckily, there was an opportunity to knit something for my volunteering, so I signed up to make a Project Linus blanket.

So… with no further ado, here’s the blanket I knit.

Log Cabin blankie, complete with applied i-cord edges. Not my usual knit, but it’s soft, washable, and will hopefully help make some child’s life a little cozier.

It was a wonderful party, and I got to catch up with family I hadn’t seen in a while, which is always fun.

Gran lives in Guelph, Ontario, which is about 8-9 hours’ drive from here. I’ve never done so much driving in one day, so on the way up I stopped to visit the Corning Museum of Glass, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. While there, in addition to getting tons of inspiration from old millefiore patterns, and shopping in their gift store (dangerous!), I also took advantage of one of their workshops, and made a glass bead of my own.

On my way home, I took some time to drive down the Niagara Falls Parkway, in hopes of getting a glimpse of the Falls, since I’ve never seen them when they weren’t frozen. It was too chilly to venture out on the Maid of the Mist, but I did manage to get a few pictures from the drivers’ seat. Here’s my favorite:

That said, I took a couple of weekends off to meet up with new & old friends at the IPCA Synergy event in Baltimore at the end of February. And… because I couldn’t go to Synergy without new baubles for myself and the Gallery, I burned a bit of midnight oil and made up a bunch of pairs of earrings. Here are a few of the pair I made for myself.

click image for larger version

I like them, and they seemed to be popular in the Gallery as well.

Ah well, back to the grind. I also have a finished pair of socks (the ones I was knitting away on in Baltimore for anyone who saw me at Synergy) to show off one of these days. So maybe I’ll be back sooner than usual. =)

In honor of St Patrick’s Day, I leave you with a bit of an Irish blessing.
May you be blessed with warmth in your home, love in your heart, peace in your soul and joy in your life.

Here are the latest additions to the mitten mountain:

And this is the final stack:

click on images for larger view
I think I’m going to move on to knitting something else. No more mittens for a while. =)

When I saw Ann at Sheep Shots’ challenge to the knitting community to help warm the hands of the children at the Cheyenne River Reservation this winter, and seeing as I’ve always liked knitting mittens (or Mittnz as she calls them), I thought that perhaps I was up to the task.

Here are my completed Mittnz

The challenge was only to make 9 pair in ‘09, but I kind of went overboard. I’d have liked to have made 18 pair, 9 for me, and 9 for my friend, but time is slipping away. It might still happen, though. If not, I’ll have a good head start on the 2010 challenge. =)

M&M/Mars is running a promo on Fridays this summer. The first 250,000 people to register on their site will receive a coupon for a free candy bar.

Check it out at https://realchocolate.com/default.aspx

Promo runs through the end of September.

So, before I embarked on this project, I decided I should refresh my bead crochet skills with some really big beads and bulky worsted weight yarn. Not only is it big and bright, it also glows in the dark. I think it might be a good fan pull someday.

Once I was reasonably sure I could still do beaded crochet, I strung up two tubes of a 6/0 bead mix on a tape yarn and set off. This is the finished piece. I might even wear it tomorrow with a tee and pair of jeans. I figure that might make the perfect red, white & blue ensemble.

Click images to see larger versions

All in all, I like the look, but the yarn I used (Lion Brand Trellis) was a royal pain. If I try another one, I’ll look for a different yarn. Hmmm… I wonder how sock yarn would work…

I think most of the 2009 Mask Swappers have gotten their packages by now, so I’m going ahead & posting the full images.

Here’s a Zentangle®*-inspired doodle I used to make a tearaway transfer etching:

And the etched & highlighted clay piece.

Click images to see larger versions

These were a lot of fun to do.

There were also pieces done with translucent clay and purple oil paint, but the etch wasn’t as deep, so they’re hard to see. Lesson learned – Staples Copy Center copiers aren’t the best for tearaway etching.

*The Zentangle® art form and method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. Zentangle® is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Not much going on ’round these parts, except a bit of knitting.

Inspired by Kay, I knit up a few new washcloths.

And then tried my hand at the Lizard Ridge pattern with the leftovers.

They’re happy spring colors, and it’s a happy spring day. Glad the weather forecast was wrong – I wasn’t looking forward to a completely rainy weekend.

I can’t quite believe it’s been so long since I last posted. And I suppose the joke is really on me, but it’s been that kind of winter.

Anyhow, I finally sat down and tried using one of my own doodles as a transfer for tearaway etching. I think it worked out ok. But I learned something in the process – the toner used in the copiers at Staples doesn’t etch anywhere near as well as the toner from my own laser printer. At least it only cost me 60¢ to learn that lesson!

This is just a snippet of what I etched, as the pieces themselves are going to show up later in some other venue.

Black on white are original doodles, white on black are etches
click photo to see larger version, if you wish

Happy Spring, everyone!