The Williams Five Want to Wish You a Very Merry Christmas!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

This is too much fun. Go make your own!!

I love this lady

October 30th marked my Aunt Kristin's birthday. She lives in New Mexico, but was able to fly out to California and spend time with the family. She's my dad's sister, and they had a gathering for her at my parent's house. Uncle Brian and some of the San Diego crew also came up to celebrate with them. I was bummed I couldn't be there myself, but I sent something in my stead.

Ta da.

Flapper hat made of organic bamboo silk in khaki and cream. Silk organza ribbon in chocolate. Big, flouncy flower in eggplant and cream mohair with a brown leather button.

I'm quite proud of this one. I had seen this hat pattern while searching around a LONG time ago and when I saw it I totally thought of Aunt K. Once I had the yarn for it, I crocheted it up in one sitting. Super easy! But then it looked very plain by itself and I knew styling it would be the most challenging part. I liked the idea of a ribbon since the originator tied a ribbon around hers, but it wasn't secured in any way. I thought sewing the ribbon on would be best, but then this also presented a challenge in that there would be no flexibility with the crochet cap. So, I just did little knots here and there, separated by about a half inch to keep the ribbon in place but not so tight. (I pinned it to the hat previously sizing it to my head since my head is on the larger side and I was worried about the ribbon making the hat too small). I should have taken a picture of the hat with just the ribbon because it looks nice without the flower as well.

The flower is a removable pin. So if she wants to attach it to a different hat or a purse she has the freedom to do so. I thought the purple, cream and brown went well together and made it all look more cohesive and finished.

(sorry for the awkward model and chopping off of the top of her head!) =P it's hard to take good pictures of oneself, while at work, without getting caught by anyone else.

Anyhoo, it looks much better on the person it was intended for:

photo courtesy of my sister, Ingrid, who snapped this just after Aunt K tried it on
as I'm talking to her on speaker phone

Happy Birthday Aunt K... I love you!

I've already got requests more requests for this hat. =) I'd say it was a hit.

Webber baby

Finally, some pictures of the presents I was working on for Pete and Erinn's new bundle of joy, Nolan. Pete was an old lab mate of mine who graduated a year and a half ago and is now working in Houston.
First up, some onesies. I found some really cute iron-ons at Joann's. I am not sure how long they will stay intact since babies can be pretty messy and these will have to survive rigorous washing and drying. I think next time I will try something a la Lisa.

There were two more...one with a little tie (my favorite one) and another of a little boy with a baseball glove and ball. (Pete was captain of our softball team, and Nolan's name made me think of Nolan Ryan. Pete got this reference once they opened it.) But of course my battery in my camera had died and I had left my charger at school. I had to rush to take these pics and those of the burping cloths and blankets before it died. The Webber's have a puggle, Milo, and Erinn loved the blaming it on the dog onesie most.

Next up, burping cloths.

All out and open

These guys are easy, or at least they should be. I don't know if it was the type of cloths I got (Gerber) but the cloth itself was really thin, and since I had to re-size them to fit the strips of cloth I had cut, it got to be more challenging and time consuming. Lesson learned: don't follow the tutorial right off, measure the burping cloth to get the right dimensions of fabric to be cut. I used the tutorial over at A Chelsea Morning.

I liked her presentation too, so I mimicked it. I think it came out cute! I made 8 cloths for them.

Then come the receiving blankets. I just took a yard of soft flannel and sewed the folded edges to make a nice, finished, ridged, edge. Then crocheted a border around it. I did the first two bordered in white first. This was also time consuming. The yarn is thick and cottony, so there was a lot of friction in trying to crochet through and around the edge of fabric, and to keep the yarn from pulling too tightly causing the edge to fold. I almost had to force myself to finish them. Once I got to the the blue one, it was much easier. This yarn is an acrylic blend, and it slid right through. Plus I thought this made the prettiest blanket so it was my favorite to look at and work on. Ryan picked out the green, athletic print. He thought my fabric needed more of a "male touch". Pete also liked that one.



Just to get an idea of the full size, I pinned it up above. Sorry for the bad lighting. It was early morning before the drive to Houston and I was rushing. Anyhow, they really liked the gifts and Pete told me at the conference the next day that Nolan slept with the blue blanket that night.
Congrats on your new addition Pete and Erinn!!

The happy parents

Baby!

Hello. Where have I been? I don't even know myself. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, and I am trying to get myself settled again.

I've finally gotten the pictures of the baby kitty I rescued one night in a parking lot, about a month ago now (sheesh!). He is so cute, friendly and is getting along well with the other two cats. I don't really know what I am going to do with him. Being the animal lover I am, I would love to keep him, but I don't think that is the most practical thing to do at this point. The boys are crazy, get into everything and manage to make a mess. Ramses and Baby (that's his name, at least for now) are the perfect buddies, and it will probably break Ramses' little heart if I took Baby away. Also since then, I have started putting Ramses outside during the day because it is just too much for me to have to deal with and clean up after three cats cooped up in an apartment all day. And since he is the biggest and most rambunctious, nature gets to deal with him. Whenever I bring Ramses in at night, Baby follows him around everywhere, crying and rubbing up against him and always purring. I don't think I could separate them.
I can't tell you the general havoc having 1 crazy, hyper kitten, 1 unusually large male who thinks he is still a kitten and has all-encompassing control over everything he can set his eyes on (Ramses), and 1 moody lady-kitty (Tesia) in my apartment has caused. Tesia, as it turns out, has a nervous condition, and when she gets stressed out she begins to scratch herself. She scratched the heck out of her poor neck, and when it started to heal and itch, she'd scratch even more. Quite a vicious cycle. Anyhow, it took me a while to figure out what was wrong with her. I knew it couldn't be fleas because she never goes outside. Also, no food allergies because she has been on this food for a while and has had no issues with it. Conclusion? I think the girl has abandonment issues (I rescued her from the shelter) and maybe having baby around was making her doubt her place in my life. He just stressed her out. Fix? "Spa treatment" which included lockdown in the bathroom with me spraying her and cleaning her wounds, 3x daily treatments with calamine lotion for the itch, and a pedi: clipping and filing down her claws. Finally, I tied a pretty little scarf around her neck. Since then, her neck is all healed, she has re-established her place as queen of my bed and is back to begging for scratches and kisses in the mornings. I'm glad to have my Tesie back. Now though, all the kitties get along pretty well together.

Baby conked out and tired

On another occasion he worked his way under this blanket

Ramses being a good big brother and giving Baby a cleaning

Aren't I a good kitty Mom?

Ramses being a bad kitty and chewing mom's earphones.

Baby learning from Ramses and getting into things

More curious cat behavior