Pixie Dust

A lovely little red-haired girl we know recently had a birthday.  I wasn't quite sure what to get for her until her aunt mentioned that she likes Tinkerbell and carrying purses around the house.  So I combined those two things together and made her a Tinkerbell purse.  It's basically a rectangular tote with a squared-off bottom.  I was really happy with the way it came out and will definitely think about using this idea again for other little girl birthdays.  For all the supplies I went to Joann's.  The sparkly green fabric was in the "prom dress" section and worked perfectly.  I was very lucky and found the green and hot pink flower trim to add a little extra color and texture.  The icing on the cake was the iron-on Tinkerbell patch.  I used the glue gun to make sure that it didn't come off, though.  

And since it's been very cold and snowy around these parts, I knit up a little hat to go along with the purse.

She'll be the only toddler in town with a "ladies who lunch" look about her.  

Please Stand By

We have been experiencing technical difficulties.  For a few weeks now we have had trouble downloading photos from our camera.  Luckily, the Incredible Digit Husband got it working last night.  So on with the show. 

I have been very lucky.  I say this because the knitting group which I have joined, PDX Knit Bloggers, is filled with wonderfully creative and smart people.  Once a week I get to sit with this group and soak up their creativity, vibes, brainwaves (whatever you want to call it) through osmosis.  So again I consider myself lucky in getting to participate with this group in the PDX Yarn Crawl organized for a large group (35!) Seattle knitters.  

Not only did this group come to check out our local yarn stores, but their fearless leader Charissa arranged for discounts at said yarn stores for all who participated in the crawl.  We started out at Dublin Bay Knitting Co. (www.dublinbay.net) where I found these buttons and this lovely yarn (on sale!). Our next stop was Knit Knot Studio (www.knitknotstudio.com).  This shop is a little on the small size and by chance a few of the small groups wound up here at the same time....totally overwhelming the space.  The owners couldn't have been nicer, though, and everyone was so high on yarn fumes that no one minded waiting. While waiting, I fell in love with the Rayon Metallic yarn from Blue Heron Yarns (www.blueheronyarns.com). It's the center yarn in the pic below.  

Trust me when I say that this photo does not do this yarn justice. 

Our next stop was Knit-Purl (www.knit-purl.com).  I love going to this shop.  The people are always so helpful and, more importantly, fun!  There is the lovely and talented Theresa (who I hope wouldn't mind being sideways at the moment...gotta fix this). 

Plus a whole lot of amazing yarn!  They recently received a shipment of Kauni yarn in many different color combinations - all beautiful.

I narrowed down my choices and bought a skein of Malabrigo Chunky in blue and one of Shibui Knits DK Alpaca in a medium green shade called Wasabi.  Appropriate since sushi is one of my favorite foods and I really needed a second skein for the scarf I'm currently knitting.  Also included is the free(!) skein of Shibui Knits Sock Yarn that I received just for being a member of the yarn crawl.  

For a knitter to come to Portland and not visit Knit-Purl would be a mistake.  The window displays alone are enough to get you into the shop. 

Then, having shopped 'til we dropped, the PDX Knit Bloggers hit Starbucks for a little refreshment.  From left to right, with their blog identities, are Judy (persistentillusion.com), Bobbie (tiggywinkleknits.blogspot.com), yours truly, Duffy (fiberqat.blogspot.com), Melissa the hidden one (teaknit.blogspot.com) and Angela (girlywithatwist.wordpress.com).  

So with plenty of yarn in my bag and caffeine in my system, I made my way home with plenty of ideas for a new project.  There's just silly little problem of finishing the other projects that I have going all at the same time.  

 

 

Tooth Fairy Alert

The mystical and mysterious figure known as the Tooth Fairy has visited our home for the very first time.  The Incredible Digit Girl is now minus one upper front tooth - with a little help from the neighborhood dentist.  Unfortunately, the tooth had to be pulled because of an infection.  The wacky part of the story is that the infection was caused by an injury that occurred in July of 2006! (Imagine the sound from Scooby Doo when those crazy kids go back in time to explain the story).  

It was a sunny summer day when our sweet girl fell mouth-first onto the bottom of our desk chair.  The kind of rolling chair with the base of five "arms" that extend out.  Did I mention that the chair is made out of very hard wood?  Combine all those together and this is what you get. 

Luckily, it didn't take too long for the swelling to go down and the tooth only discolored a tiny bit over time.  So imagine my surprise when I found an abscess last month on her gums over the same tooth.   The dentist ultimately determined that the tooth would have to come out.  So yesterday, with a little help from a red clown nose dispensing a low level of nitrous oxide, the infected tooth was removed.  

The Incredible Digit Girl calls this lack of a tooth the "open door" in her mouth.  Sympathetically, I let her join me for Knit Night with the PDX Knit Bloggers last night.  She even joined in the knitting with her small round knitting loom.  It was an enjoyable evening.  Our resident songbird Duffy made the excellent tip that Digit Girl could now slurp spaghetti through the new opening in her teeth. To top it off, I let my girl pick out a hank of hand-dyed Merino goodness in the Xanadu colorway (you know you just started singing the song - imagining yourself as Olivia Newton-John on roller skates) from Sharon aka Stitch Jones (www.stitchjones.com).
This picture doesn't really do the yarn justice. Check out her website for a better pic of this yarn and all her other lovely products.

And now back to the real world where two small children would desperately like to eat breakfast.

New Year Catch-Up

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Belated Happy New Year!  An appropriate greeting for my first post of 2008.  2007 went out with a bang.  Since Thanksgiving, we've had friends and family visiting us here along with a trip to sunny Florida to visit with some of the Incredible Digit Grandparents.  Of course, leaving the rainy and snowy Pacific Northwest in winter to visit sunny beaches is absolutely not a hardship.  Ironically, one of the places we visited in Florida was ICE! at the Gaylord Palms Resort.  This is a really spectacular exhibit of ice sculptures created by the same Chinese artists that create the Harbin Ice and Snow World every January in China's Zhaolin Park.  My brother-in-law treated us all to the experience and we enjoyed every minute of it.  Although, the Incredible Digit Girl was not too cheery by the end.  Since it's an indoor display, the indoor temperature is a whopping 9 degrees.  Although the organizers do provide some toasty warm parkas, our Digit Girl got progressively colder and crankier the longer we stayed.  I couldn't get even a grin out of her by the end of the tour....as evidenced below.  

A chipper child doing her best Thumbelina impression. 

A happy boy going down the ice slides. 

A cold and cranky girl and impatient boy posing with Santa on his home turf. 

In contrast to my daughter looking and feeling "blue", I have found out that I am orange.  I was visiting the blog of a fellow PDX Knit Blogger, Girl With A Twist, and found a survey she had posted titled "What Color is Your Soul Painted?".  Since I'm usually intrigued with all kinds of colors, I took the test.  I like that I'm on the "warm" side of the spectrum. 

What color is your soul painted?

Orange

Your soul is painted the color orange, which embodies the characteristics of balance, heat, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, aggression, over-emotion, danger, desire, strengthens the ability to concentrate, attraction, adaptability, and stimulation. Orange falls under the element of Fire, and symbolizes glory and fruits of the earth.

Click Here to Take This Quiz

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