New items in the KnitOwl shop

At the KnitOwl shop for 2015 at mariemeyer.etsy.com

It's the time of year I am buying seeds for our garden, and Esme's greenhouse endeavors now, and also getting other items ready for the flea market we go to throughout the year.  Our Blue Black Shackamaxon beans did very well this year, and we will be selling packets of them with some free surprises of other varieties I have been growing.  And the Alien Monster Dolls are back up for sale with the octopi and the planes.  These are made to order toys and I will have to fit them into our schedule to sit down at the machine and make a few here and there.

Seeds:

Florida Speckled Lima Beans (Butter Peas)

Blue Black Shackamaxon pole beans

Brown speckled Whipporwill cowpeas 

and limited supplies of White climbers, White speckled climbers, Ireland Creek Annie, Tongues of Fire, Kenearly Yellow Eye and Tennessee Greasy beans.

What are we planning for the garden this year? 

I have decided to forgo all curcubits and other zucchini other than Tromboncino squash, which I've *heard* the squash bugs don't like.. in hopes of cutting down their numbers.  We will be going forth with the Principe Borghese tomatoes and Black Prince.  And of course.. I can't put myself into a box yet on the beans -- there will be some planted, probably many.. but it is to be determined. 

Zen Bean Bags

 And the Indiana Jones hat I made last year for gardening... it fits her now :)

 

We made 'zen beanbags' today - which was an idea I had a long time ago and made for her but didn't really post much about.  The old ones are kind of gone, and I thought it was time for a new set, and some photographs for the KnitOwl Toys and Crafts book, which I am working on again.   The fabric is something I painted the other day with textile medium and acrylic paint using cardstock as a resist stencil.  The other fabric is an old piece of clothing we have used for several things in the past.

 Stacking beanbags in proportional sizes.

They brought out the little scientist in her, she was comparing weights and measuring distances (with help) and talking about the different sizes meant we needed different amounts, which would be heavier or lighter.  She compared the small one to a strawberry, and the big one was a pancake.  I let her help with sewing up the closure on the smallest one, and she paid good attention to how it was done and the steps.  We used a funnel piece of paper to fill the beans into the two larger ones.

 I also took a coffee can and covered it with construction paper on the outside after thoroughly washing and drying the inside.  We are using it as a goal bucket.  She really really likes the 'stacking game', though.

I made 'bracers of craftiness' last night as Mark is calling them - simple sport yarn wrist cuffs to keep my arms a little warmer.  They kind of match the yellow drawstring pants I've been meaning to make for almost a year and finally got myself to cut out and start.  It really took thirty five minutes to cut it out and get them ready for finishing.  I don't know why I waited so long... really need to just 'get up and do' a bit more... been having trouble with that the past year and especially with the cold this winter.  I've been keeping a notebook again to write down the things I want to do so I actually get myself to work on things when there is time to be used - like the book - and other things as well.

The 'bracers of craftiness', which actually do help keep my hands warmer when I'm working at knitting, sewing and typing.

It was such a nice day out, several of us could barely keep our feet on the ground...

And those are some awfully big rabbits around here, too!

Picking daffodils with Grandma

A bona fide puddlehound.. just kidding, this is Minerva, the catahoula bluetick coonhound cross

 

and her older sister, Sweetie

a few dried flowers surviving in a shadow with the last of the snow

busy day

The patchy patchwork quilt that was begun last year ... or maybe the year before?  It is coming along stripe by stripe I keep changing the pattern so there is no pressure to 'match'... and all the bits and pieces of fabric get used up this way.

It does appear my brain nodes are coming back online.  I prepared a few pots for starting tomato seeds, today.  We bought a toaster oven, and made grilled cheese sandwiches. I plan to cook a couple of little yellow summer squash I bought at the store.  Esme's camouflage fabric for her camo clothing came in the mail, and it is in the wash now.  We walked to the lake with Grandma, and pushed Esme on the swing..  She is in the bath, right now.  I've been cutting pieces out here and there for the yellowish stripe you see above.. inspired by the modern flying geese quilt I saw at Red Pepper Quilts.  I may be ready to start sewing it together tonight after Esme goes to bed.

 

Workshop toys from KnitOwl Toys
They will be going out in the mail tomorrow.

Handy Robot toy for baby (custom order) at KnitOwl Toys and bits

 A soft washable robot toy for a yet to be born baby boy.  He has a little wrench and remote control that will entertain little  hands until they are big enough to toss all of him around.

He is 20 inches tall from toe to head and 9 inches wide in the chest.

Other than that, I am preparing mentally for Esme's speech IEP coming up next week, making a few little odds and ends, knitting on the striped blanket... have another toy that is already requested but I might need to draw a bit yesterday before making that plan.

I spent a midnight hour last night making a little washcloth for the bath, it looks like a sand dollar and I hoped it would be good for scrubbing.  If it is, I'll make a few more and post some pictures.

Arrr! Pirate LOLrus says Where's Me Bucket?

Pirate LOLrus says: Arrr! Where's Me Bucket? I'll keelhaul the blighter who stole me bucket!

Another Farkism collaboration from Mark and I ;)

Complete with hat, eyepatch and parrot

Don't worry Pirate LOLrus!


Nobody stole yer bukket silly lolrus - here it is ;)

This guy will be at KnitOwl custom toys shop!

Rocky the Ferocious Sock Dachsund

How Dachsunds See Themselves : Ferocious!

Green Aliens

They look like the friendly type...

Green (female) Alien Monster Doll with babies for Mrs.Pao's nephew :)
Custom toy shop

Lots of New Toys and more at KnitOwl Shop

There are lots of new toys in the shop this week! There are also some new paper goods and vintage items!


Happy birds and ducks

Mama Kitty and her kittens
are black cats for Halloween!

New handheld Playtime Bunnies!
These little stuffed rabbits are ready to hop!

A fun skeleton paper doll.

New toys in the KnitOwl shop

New arrivals at the shop

I'm almost happy enough with my horse pattern now to make a publishable version. This is the fourth alteration to the original pattern. The 'mimsy' or rabbit doll is an extension of the bubblehead babies pattern - which still needs lots of perfection.

Mark and I discussed today about how to get a small booklet put together once I get the patterns ready for printing. Just to get the patterns ready and sufficiently tested will take at least three months...

Busy here...

We have our doctor's appointment today, shipping for our Ebay store and a few other things to do in town. We've been busy most of the weekend, as well. On Saturday we had a cable break out over the driveway that holds up the fiber optic cable for our Internet. It didn't cause the Net to go down, but we had to expend quite a bit of effort to stabilize the wire again, so it wouldn't break in the next storm.

We're also going back and forth between different computer projects. It isn't as easy as it seems to keep a large Internet network up and accessible to the Web. We run over 16 web sites here, and are pretty much the only ones who know (me because Mark knows) what to do when something breaks. Often, it is a situation that will lead to other things failing later, and although no one can see the fixes being made on a weekly basis, they would quickly know if they stopped being taken care of for any long period of time. We're also working with salvaged equipment to get all of this done, and have for years - so the methods to fix broken systems often includes cannibalizing some other machine, making a work-around or trying to scrape together something new before old one gives out completely.

Not that we are busy 24/7 - we still get time to sit down and watch a movie during dinner and be together, but there is always more to get done, somewhere, the next time we get moving again.

I traded a few rabbit softies to a lady in Florida (Tessa at HowtoMakeArt blog) for a cool screenprinted shirt. I'm glad those rabbits will have a good home instead of sitting on my shelf in a cutely menacing row. I've taken on a few custom art projects, one for a friend and one for a site logo. We went to the flea market yesterday and picked up a few more things to Ebay and a small box of craft materials the lady was selling for 2.00.

Off to bustle some more, we've got our postal box ready to go out but I really need to vaccum before we go to the doctor ;)

Softie Adoptions

Click Here to See my Softie toy shop!
I have a proposal to make. If you would like to swap for any of the little creatures below, please post a comment here. Also say which creature you would like to trade for. These softies need to be adopted to good homes before I embark on a much more complicated project...


From L to R: Blue Bear, Red Rabbit, All-Pink Rabbit, Brown Rabbit, Pink Birdie Rabbit, Pink kitty, Yellow Bear

From L to R: Set of three knit rabbits, bird pincushion, white rabbit.

I've finally decided to get a sewing machine, although it might take a month or so to actually happen. I've been mostly against using sewing machines on softies. I'm very quick and detailed with a hand-sewing needle. It seems like the toys have more personality when handsewn, more care and detail put into them. Also sewing on a machine is more difficult because many of my projects are 6 inches or smaller. However, the new projects are going to be larger, and more complicated. I think it's about time to dive in and get a sewing machine that can do long straight stretches.

So, tell your other knitblog friends (if you'd like), that these stuffed animals are looking for good homes. Possible swap materials would be a bit of an interesting fabric, some felt, ribbons, buttons, a skein or two of cheap wool or cotton yarn etc...

Some of these animals are still for sale at my Etsy shop and have been reduced in price. If you don't want to swap the price on them would help towards the sewing machine. Once I arrange a swap I'll remove them from the shop.