Naaaaa na na na na na na na...

Pattern found here: http://amysbabies.wordpress.com/magnetic-katamari-pattern

Katamari Damacy is, in my humble opinion, one of the very best video games ever made. It's delightfully colorful, fast-paced, clever, and has cornered the market on WEIRD FUN.

You guys know who else is delightfully colorful, fact-paced, clever, and full of weird fun? My sister!

This awesome anigurumi is my sister's birthday present! I had a ton of fun making it, and will definitely be making more!

I used up the last of the purple mercerized cotton (as well as a bunch of the green, and all of the light blue when I made my first attempt at the magnetic nubs around the side) in my stash to make little piece of adhesive-star-magic. Woo!

Until next time, Readers! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Introducing: Sir Keiko Von StashBuster.

Hello, Readers. This is Keiko Von StashBuster.

I finished him yesterday, and he is absolutely adorable.

This cute lil' oceanic dolphin is made from a free pattern on Ravelry! Readers, I don't know why this pattern isn't more popular; it was super easy to follow, was VERY forgiving (I skipped over some pattern repeats but the finished project doesn't show it), and used up ALL of my leftover black acrylic yarn, as well as my white acrylic!

Whoo!

I've also finished another softie; I finished this one last week, but haven't found the time to post it:

Recently, I've been in contact with one of the donation.volunteer coordinators from Seattle Children's Hospital. I shot her an email, asking if Seattle Children's accepted knit hats/booties. She told me no, they don't accept knit hats/ booties for preemies and newborns (because their little hands can get caught in the knit fabric), but they DID accept all kinds of knit/crochet toys!

I was absolutely delighted by the details she put in what it was they were looking for in the knit toy donations: the toys should be:

1: Machine washable (for obvious reasons, they are a hospital after all and want things to be kept clean/sterilized),

2: Snuggleable: nothing quite like holding a soft toy to help take a sick child's mind off things, and

3: Meltdown proof. Readers, when a child (especially a small one) is sick or injured, it can be a very scary and overwhelming time. It's inevitable that at least a few patients will have a bit of a meltdown moment, and when this happens, parents/caretakers/nurses will try to distract the child with a stuffed animal, which may or may not be chucked across the room at the medical equipment.

Which is perfectly okay with me :-).

The dinosaur I posted last week, the rocket ship, and Sir Keiko Von StashBuster will be donated to Seattle Children's hospital, just as soon as I finish knitting up a few more things. I'd like to have a basket of at least five toys to donate.

I'll keep you guys posted, Readers! Until next time!

Apple Peeerrrr...

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch,
You must first invent the universe. 
                                     -Carl Sagan

 <3 Until next time!

October in review:

Hello, Readers! It's good to be back from a month-and-a-half-long hiatus!

Let me go ahead and give you all a rundown on what I did while I was away from Blogger:

This October, Mr. Orb Weaver and I:

Moved! We've found what may be the Holy Grail of apartments in Seattle. We're renting a condo in Queen Anne that has a dishwasher, a balcony, and.....



wait for it....



PARKING INCLUDED IN THE RENT.

awwwwwe yis.

Plus, I have a REAL KITCHEN. One that is larger than a porto-potty! 

Also during the month of October, I have:

Knit this dinosaur:

This little nugget is going to be donated to Seattle Children's Hospital, along with a few other knit softies that I have in the works. 

Knit these gloves for co-worker Pop:

Built up quite a bit of Lace Mountain 2013:

Knit all of these Warm Up America squares:

Made and wore this Star Trek Red-Shirt:

Yes, I did knit my communicator pin :-)

Carved these pumpkins:

Gawked at this stellar view:

(I work on the 49th floor of a very tall sky-scraper in downtown Seattle. When it gets super foggy, it feels like I'm working on Bespin).

Knit this pincushion:

I'm really happy with how this one turned out, and I'm definitely going to make more!

...and knit this bunny hat:

Cute, but the ear flaps ended up being in kind of a weird position...

Whoof!

It's good to be back, Readers!

<3 Until next time!

Wedding cake success!

Well, Readers, after two and a half months of planning, testing, practicing, baking, decorating, the wedding cake is (well, WAS, since it was entirely eaten within twenty minutes of me slicing it) finished!

Yikes, I really messed up the piping on the top tier...

All in all, Readers, I think I can say that this isn't a bad result. Not too shabby for my first-ever wedding cake!

Here are the cakey details:

The bottom layer was a dark chocolate cake, filled with ganache. The recipe I used is FANTASTIC, and can be found here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Double-Chocolate-Layer-Cake-101275

The second tier is Martha Stewart's Whipped Cream Cake, filled with the same icing that's seen on the sides of the cake. That recipe can't be found online, I'm afraid; but it CAN be found in "The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Everyday."

The top tier is Martha Stewart's Sour Lemon Cake I. Again, this recipe is not found on the internet, folks, but can be found in same cookbook. I filled that one up with an imported lemon curd.

The icing recipe I ended up using is one of the BEST. TASTING. ICING. RECIPES. IN. THE HISTORY. OF. THE. UNIVERSE. You guys, seriously, if you're making a cake for a special occasion, you simply MUST try making some of this wonderful stuff:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/07/project-wedding-cake-swiss-buttercream/

Readers, for a cake of this size, the recipe calls for TEN. STICKS. OF. BUTTER.

The tree and apples were made from gumpaste.

My brother and his lovely wife very generously offered up their enormous kitchen, so that I may create this glorious beast without losing my mind.

The cake layers were baked at my mother's house about two weeks ago. We froze them, and transported them in a cooler with some dry ice so that they could stay frozen and not lose their flavor.

On the day before the wedding, I arrived at my brother's house and started work on torting, filling and decorating the layers at around 7:30 pm.

I finished the cake at around 5 am.

Whew!

Now that THAT's over, I can turn my attention towards the upcoming holiday craft fair! I will keep you posted, Readers!

Orb Weaver Out!

<3

Monarch

September 15th, 2012.

My eyes cracked open at around 5:00 am, and I sat up slowly in my bed. Protestations from my body resounded; a combination of frayed nerves and a lack of sleep caused my heart and my head to pound in tandem.

I got up and paced around for a bit, being careful not to wake my parents who were snoozing in the next room over. The repetitive movement brought me no comfort, as my mind was being barraged with a never-ending cacophony of "What Ifs":

"What if the DJ is late?
What if I spill something on my dress?
What if I forget my vows as I'm standing in front of everyone?
What if I look fat?
What if I get some kind of food poisoning and throw up all over myself?
What if I trip in my ridiculously high shoes? I knew I shouldn't have gotten those shoes...Oh, sweet Lord, why oh why do I not think of these things??"

My fear of tripping in those high shoes might sound a bit overly-dramatic, but those were some pretty dang tall shoes, Readers. 

I was finding myself slipping into a small meltdown. I sat down on the bed, scrunched my face up, and began to do what it is I usually do when I find myself losing out to my anxieties: I prayed. Or, more accurately, I began to whine to God.

"God, I beg of you,
Don't let me throw up at the wedding. Oh, Lord, please, oh please don't let me throw up at our wedding.
Don't let me trip as I'm walking down the aisle.
Don't let me look like a fool! Please, oh please, Lord, don't let me be a laughingstock in front of my friends and family!"

My mind was reeling with anxiety as I listed each and every potential disaster. Just as my head felt as if it would explode with worry, I saw a flash of orange and black gracefully waft by my window, framed by the lovely pinks and light blues that go along with a beautiful New England sunrise.

I sat there, eyes locked on that spot. After a couple of seconds, it happened again, and that flash of orange and black was revealed to be a particularly large monarch butterfly, happily fluttering about in search of nectar. Immediately my mind went from worrying about spilling red wine on my dress to my (very) limited knowledge of entomology, and I quietly said, "What're you doing out this early, you beautiful thing?"

I stood up and walked to the window. The butterfly had landed on a tree not far from my room, slowly flexing her wings. I felt my face relax, my lips forming a small smile. 

My body was still churning with nerves, so I pulled on a sweatshirt over my pajamas and walked across the street from the hotel to climb around the rocky shore for a bit. The butterfly fluttered away towards the small thicket of trees behind the hotel as I passed the tree she was perched on. 

I sat on a large rock and just watched the Atlantic, letting the peaceful, rhythmic music played by the waves provide some much needed comfort. I got up and walked along the rocks, enjoying the cool, salty air. 

One year ago today, I took that butterfly to be a sign of sorts; God's way of distracting me from my imagined disasters, and perhaps a sign of his approval. 

"It's okay. You're going to be just fine. This is part of my plan for you. Your marriage has my blessing."

I didn't see the butterfly after that morning, as she probably wasn't interested in hanging around all the noise and hullabaloo. And, as it turned out, I didn't throw up on myself. I didn't trip in my too-high heels. I didn't spill wine on myself, but my wedding veil did fall off after the wedding ceremony. 

My bridesmaids were on it. :-)

Our wedding day was the beginning of the happiest year of my life so far. It was a day that I will never, ever forget. 

I never told John about the butterfly.

Yesterday, John and I did somewhat of a pre-anniversary gift exchange. For our first anniversary, he gave me a beautiful necklace:

"It's okay. You're going to be just fine. This is part of my plan for you. Your marriage has my blessing."

Here's to many anniversaries to come! John, sweetheart, I love you so much! 

<3