The Squares of Madness

by Kelly

Squares, squares, squares. Making squares for the SmoothFox charity drive...

Did you know that a square is a special case of a isosceles trapezoid, kite, parallelogram, quadrilateral, rectangle, rhombus, and trapezoid ?

                     49 squares done to date

Or that in Italian, a town square is called a Palazzo? And near Chicago there is a restaurant called the Pasta Palazzo? Am I the only one that thinks Pasta Palazzo is a hilarious name? Maybe it's all these squares I'm making...

                    that's 98 points so far!

The warden said hey buddy don't you be no square

If you can't find a partner use a wooden chair

                AH-ha-ha-HA!


Edit : I have since realized that a Palazzo is a grand house or museum, while a piazzo is a town square. Sorry for the error. However, to my mind, that only makes Pasta Palazzo even funnier.

Cute Felted Creations That I Can't Make

by Kelly

There's always that next cute craft beckoning on the horizon...

From asherjasper on Etsy.

From  Enamor

South Bound and Down

Snowbird season is officially underway and I know a few of us will be making our annual pilgrimages down south here in the near future. Dan and I have our favorite landmarks along the way - the Farmers Market in Indy, the big picture of Colonial Sanders in Louisville, the Nickajack Dam in Tenneessee and of course the Big Peach and Peanut in Georgia. Perhaps not your usual list of must-sees, but they are certainly welcome sights after a few weeks of cold and rain. So for all the snow birds out there (and let's be honest that's at least 3/4 of our group :), I thought I'd post a couple of southbound area yarn shops. I actually haven't been to any of these but may try to hit one of them on the next trip down.



Indianapolis Area

Sheep Street - http://www.sheepstreet.com/



Louisville Area

Sophie's Fine Yarn - http://www.sophiesfineyarn.com/
The Grinny Possum - http://www.grinnypossum.com/


Nashville Area

Haus of Yarn - http://www.hausofyarn.com/
Bliss Yarns - http://www.blissyarns.com/
The Knaughty Knitter - http://www.knaughtyknitter.typepad.com/
The Stitchin Post - http://www.stitchinpostnashville.com/


Atlanta Area

Strings and Strands - http://www.stringsandstrands.com/



Sarasota Area

A Good Yarn - http://www.agoodyarnsarasota.com/
Picasso's Moon Yarn - http://www.picassosmoonyarn.com/



Happy Shopping!

DIY Amigurumi

by Kelly



This neat pattern maker from Knittink will generate an amigurumi pattern for you. All you have to do is plug in colors and sizes and number of arms and legs. Want to make an octopus? No problem!

Halloween

by Kelly

Some things to put you in the spirit...

Recipe for these awesome apples at Matt Bites. 
I will make these one day. I will.

A must-see Halloween light show on YouTube. Amazing what you can do with Christmas lights. Thanks, YouTube, for giving my husband ideas...

Although I'm not up to the level of either of these examples, things that I have made for Halloween include this year's  knitted devil's hat from this pattern. (now in adult and child's sizes).

And the Halloween prop I made a few years ago (with my father-in-law's help) for my husband's set in our town's Spook Hike.(The Spook Hike is basically a long walk in the dark woods, spoiled by ghosts and other scary things. Although now the Spook Hike takes place in a pleasant town park, which is quite a change from a creepy woodland. But that's a long story.)

Basically, this prop is a fake tree stump jump scare. A motion sensor trigger causes a Halloween mask to pop out of the tree stump. The lights and recorded scream help sell the whole thing.

I also made an electric chair (not pictured) for the Spook Hike. Yes, we still have it, even though we haven't used it for the spook hike for years. We're like that.

So, what was the coolest thing you ever made for Halloween? Was it a costume? A whole house light show? An amazingly beautiful or creepy looking food for a Halloween party?  Or maybe just a neat jack-o-lantern? 

Or do you think Halloween is just for kids?