Double Post Today.... on Alma

I was over at Loobylu and Claire had posted a link to this gorgeous yet creepy short:

Alma

Take a look when you get a chance.

Sick... again.....

I am sick, yet again, this winter. Some cold thing this time, so hopefully it will pass quickly. So I'm going to post pictures of a "stash busting" yarn project that I knitted on the last time I was sick.

After completing several knitting projects, I seem to have an abundance of leftovers, so I let Miss E pick through the box and choose an assortment of yarns to knit up into one grand sweater. We were hugely inspired by Lina Mayfleet's sweaters in the movie City of Ember.



The sleeves came out this way....





... and the body came out this way. She really liked the red fuzzy yarn, and I barely had enough to do the front and back panels.



This was my first time knitting without a pattern. I took some rough numbers off of a children's cardigan, but made up the rest. It is a little wider than I anticipated, but looks really good on body. I'll post pictures when I'm feeling well enough to chase down Elsie and have her put the sweater on.

Absolutely Gorgeous

Check out this fashion spread from Elle Canada using plus-size/real-size model Crystal Renn, author of Hungry.

It is breathtakingly gorgeous....

Project Rungay- Elle Canada- Crystal Renn

Eloise

I have had a long love affair with Eloise from the Plaza. I have also greatly admired her creator, Kay Thompson.... who took the color pink to new heights with the song "Think Pink" from Funny Face.



We have greatly enjoyed the Eloise movies with Julie Andrews as Nanny too. Both actresses are the epitome of their storybook counterparts.



Therefore... Miss Elsie was seized with great inspiration... riding high on the success of Halloween costuming... and flamboyantly requested an Eloise costume to wear for Christmas. It was NOT to be a Christmas present, but rather her official Christmas outfit. I was able to get the skirt and blouse done (on Christmas Eve, no less) before succumbing to the flu. I put on the straps today.



I think it turned out rawther well.....

Remember These?

Miss Elsie had a birthday party to go to and needed a gift. I was going to make a drawstring purse (which is what I usually make, and which meant- yet again- that Elsie herself did not get to choose the gift idea- which I was thoroughly reminded). So I asked Miss E what we should make, and she suggested "these braided ribbon barrettes"... which I TOTALLY knew what she was talking about.
I put on my 80's thinking cap and we whipped out this lovely set of 2 side barrettes and one fabulous barrette of ribbons and beads for the back.




The pink beads were attached to the barrette at the ends. I forgot to take a picture after we finished. It has already been boxed, wrapped, gifted, and unwrapped. I may have to make some for the Little Lady Herself.

Christmas Pajamas

So we are back in Portland after driving 8 plus hours on Tues the 29th... the last 3 hours through A LOT of snow in the Gorge. I'm still sick and my daily routine seems to be getting up, doing one project (i.e. cleaning out the refrigerator and scrubbing down, putting away Christmas presents, cleaning up kids play table in basement for the forth time this year), and then taking a 2 hour nap with the vaporizer running full bore... only to climb back into bed around 8:30pm and lay there in the steamy dampness. I am really, really tired.
But I have located my camera patch cord and can post some Christmas gifty projects!
These were the pajama fabric choices for this year:



There is always great excitement to see what prints I have managed to find for the pajamas. My nephew is quite the fly fisherman, and I was extremely fortunate to find a fly fishing print... which he was extremely excited about.

These are the recipients on Christmas Eve doing what they did for the entire week we were there. My youngest in the front removed something from Nana's floral arrangement for the picture... for extra beauty, I guess.



The gift wrap... I'm particularly pleased with. We stopped putting on bows or anything with 3-dimensions, since all the packages have to be packed into boxes to go to the farm. So this year I got out my stamps and found a silver pigment pad and went to work.



It looks all Martha Stewart-y. Also I am only buying one color of wrapping paper for EVERYTHING. So if you receive anything from me in the next 6-8 months it will be wrapped in red. I'm tired of having all these little bits of this and that left over.