30 September 2010

I'm done!

I finished my afghan. I figure it took me about 25 hours or so.... I think I'm pleased. To me the charcoal stripes don't really fit in as well as the other colors, but doesn't stick out enough to tear it all out.

As I mentioned it is a travel blanket, so here it is rolled up.
And with the handy dandy straps to keep it together. I didn't have matching buttons, but these are close enough.


26 September 2010

Maker Faire

Today I went to the Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Queens. Make is a project based magazine that is pretty sciencey. Think less building a bookcase and more building a magnetic stirring machine. However they have a sister magazine, Craft, that is more my thing (although some of their crafts are quite nerdy as well... think firefox necklace, light up clothing, robot notecards).

Day of tickets were $25 (I could of saved $5 by planning ahead), but I ended up spending 5 hours there and got some free stuff so it wasn't too bad of a deal. My day started out in the crafts for sale area. Everything was high quality and included jewelry, soap, printed t-shirts, plushies (my newly learned name for stuffed animals), and stationary.

I then moved on to the craft demonstration area and saw how to make a stuffed hedgehog. It was cute and a well done presentation, but I didn't really learn anything new (make a pattern, cut it out, sew, stuff, whip stitch....)

I did love her pretty pink sewing machine
Next door was the Martha Stewart Living booth. I was a little disappointed by her crafts. When I first went by they had butterflies to cut out and attach to a dowel rod with a ribbon.... They were also making giant paper mache bones and taking pictures of people in front of a fall background. I was able to grab the October Living magazine.

Martha wasn't there
I went back by her booth later and they were handing out cupcakes decorated with gum paste cut out by a cricut machine. I've seen these machines before for paper, but was surprised to see them used for food. The results are pretty, but I can't help from feeling like its cheating.

I headed on to the Craft make tent. Inside there were several demonstrations and lessons.

Outside was this car with a knitted cozy.
Lion Brand and Red Heart Yarn brands both had booths inside. As I walked up to the Lion Brand booth they were starting a knitting lesson, although I already know how to knit the allure of free yarn, needles, and project bag was too much and I grabbed a chair. To my surprise I learned something new. I taught myself to knit from a CD my mom got me one Christmas. That is where I learned to cast on, I had no idea there were other ways! Today I learned the "knitted cast on". I picked it up pretty quickly, an advantage is not needing to know how long of a tail you need when you start casting on.

Some of the cute projects they had made up

Lunch of Paella (the shrimp was whole and messy)
After lunch I wondered over into the other areas of the fair. And wow. There were people all in gold riding gold horse bicycles around, there were Steampunk people (victorian science fiction), there was all kinds of soldering, and some crazy jet fueled 360 degree swing of death (that was really loud).

One of the cooler things I saw was these two guys with a bunch of bottles of diet coke and mentos. Not only was there diet coke flowing everywhere they guys gave a great explanation of what happens and how to do it yourself while being charming the entire time.

Explaining how different variations affect the effect
During the grand finale-- better than the fountains in Vegas
There was also this crazy guy giving haircuts. Ummm I didn't go near him.

I never go to salons that require my eyes to be taped shut
Overall it was a great fair. One suggestion... make it less child friendly? They had special children areas, but no special adult areas. The kids were everywhere and hey, I would of liked to tried and tested a few more things, but I never like making a kid cry.

24 September 2010

My first attempt at stop-motion video

I recently got a new computer.... my other one was over 5 years old and quite slow... and then it came down with something. With my new speed and creative ability I decided to try making a stop-motion video. I always think they look so cool. I looked up some instructions, and found some here.

I then started drawing and taking pictures. When I was done, I had over 300 pictures to upload. After fooling around with a little iMovie software I came out with the lovely movie below-



Next time if I'm drawing I won't use paper that is so transparent (New York magazine's September 27th Facebook article shines through). I also need to invest in a tripod (any suggestions on a good one?), my left hand started cramping. Next time I'll try to be a bit more creative, any ideas?

23 September 2010

New York this morning

I had to get up for work early this morning. As I opened my blinds this morning I saw the moon setting over Manhattan.


There have also been a ton of Coast Guard boats in the East River this week protecting the United Nations from Pirates (I assume). There are several of these bigger boats, but my favorite are the smaller raft like boats with the big guns and gunner up front. I was caught in the traffic jam this morning that the UN General Assembly always creates and got to watch some of the gunner boats escort EPA ships down the river.


All these boats made me wonder why they couldn't find a place to put the UN that would be a bit easier to secure.

18 September 2010

Fall creations

With the cooler weather approaching I got the sudden urge to knit. I didn't knit much this past year (I think I made one dishcloth), but while browsing through my emails I had noticed a pattern for an afghan and thought "why not". I haven't attempted one before, I usually stick to quick/small projects.

So far it is going pretty quick itself, with thick yarn and size 13 circular needles. When done it is called a "car afghan" as I don't have a car, I am planning on calling it my "travel afghan".

In pretty fall colors (after three days of knitting)

I also embroidered another onesie, I'm pretty sure this is my last for awhile. Another co-worker is having a baby and she happens to live in my neighborhood.

The M shape is suppose to be the gantries...
I also need to do something with my New York City themed fabric I bought at The City Quilter a while back- any suggestions?

09 September 2010

The US Open

Over a month ago I received an email from Fandango (online movie ticket website) offering tickets to the US Open for the price of a movie ticket (in NYC that is $12). I've never been to the US Open and I enjoy watching tennis (on lazy Sunday mornings) so I decided to go for it. There were only a small amount of (back row) tickets available and they were going fast, but I was able to snag some for the night session on Sept. 7. I bought two thinking surely I could convince someone to go with me. Well fast forward to me being away on vacation and remembering my tickets the morning of... turns out people like a little notice. A Mizzou friend was nice enough to join me for my journey to Arthur Ashe Stadium.

We arrived around the time the women's match was suppose to start, however the day session was running way over and they weren't allowing in one in. So we walked around and bought overpriced food.

Venus finally won her match around 8:40 pm and they opened the gates.

I highly recommend heading out to the Open. Especially if you can snag $12 tickets.

Outside the stadium
We were way in the back, but the stadium did not fill up and we moved closer
Clijsters vs. Stosur
Clijsters won
Around 11pm the men took the court: Nadal vs. Lopez (two Spaniards)
At first it looked like it would be a super fast win for Nadal, but then Lopez started to play a little

Nadal won around 1:20 am, but we left at midnight to take the 7 train home

Ribbons galore

I've been back in New York for three days and have been sick for two of them, but I'm grateful it didn't hit me during our road trip across the Midwest. While I was home I had time to enter a few things in the fair and my foray into new categories at the fair was rather successful

Dad entered the indian corn under my name
That award winning hickory tree... swept the category
The competition was a bit more fierce in the walnut category, but I did snatch second place
Recognize these guys? Honorable Mention baby!
My most embarrassing entry (even though I received a purple) for two reasons 1. theme 2. pitiful knowledge of flower arranging

02 September 2010

Picking Nuts

When I was little my grandpa would pick hickory nuts and walnuts and enter them under my name in the Chilhowee Fair. This year since I was home I made my brother go with me to pick our own nuts.
A crazy half alive half dead tree at the Johnson place
Me picking Hickory nuts at the "champion tree"
Travis picking the high nuts
Backing the truck up
By Friday morning we'll know if the nuts are champions once again!

Baby Shower

Last weekend I was back home helping throw a baby shower for my older sister. This was my first baby shower to help throw (and only like the third that I have been to), but I think it was a success.
We hung the homemade bibs that we had made for the fair circuit by the fireplace


As guests arrived we put them to work decorating Onesies with fabric pens

After decorating we hung them across the wall, then played "guess the celebrity parents"

I "glued" cookie handles on waffle bowls with chocolate for our ice cream sundaes

As Kristen opened presents we played bingo (each present had a picture that could be on each player's card)
I decorated my onesie with my "city cow" design

A little work humor

For my co-worker/cube mate's baby, I stitched up a little work humor.