My Hedgehog

Henrietta #2
Originally uploaded by ssplam

I found a pattern on Etsy a few months back by Yvonne Boucher

The pattern is called Henrietta Hedgehogand she sells it for $3

Such a cute pattern and truly easily worked. All done on straight needles with very easy to work shaping then seaming at the back to make it round. The fur also works up super easy. Total project time for me was less than 4 hours. (I really think it was a lot less than that if I would actually have just worked on it and not stopped to eat lunch or other things at the same time.)

Shelley & Jasons house

Shelley & Jasons house
Originally uploaded by ssplam

After our visit with Steve, we headed further south to Modesto to be there for Shell's birthday. Had cake with her family then her and her husband took us back to their house. Hung out with them for a while, had a bit of dinner and caught up on old times.

Happy Birthday Shelley

What a great visit.

(L-R -Shelley, Mike, Josh & Me - sorry J, we'll get you in the pic next time)

Steve's new place

Steve's new place
Originally uploaded by ssplam

We had an impromptu and smallish Grange reunion last weekend. A friend was having her 30th birthday party so Josh came to my house from Auburn, Mike from Chico, then the three of us started off on our little road trip. Stopped in Stockton on the way home and visited with an old friend named Steve. The house he's staying in is beautiful and we had a great visit. (Picture L-R - Steve, Josh, Mike, Me)

My knitting Roll

My knitting Roll 1
Originally uploaded by ssplam

I've also made a roll for knitting needles. While I like the I received from my grandmothers stash, the slots weren't quite big enough to hold everything. I've also got quite a few needles I just don't plan to use. So this one has become my primary and is a little bit larger than the grandma roll. The grandma roll has become home to the misfit needles (those without mates) and the ones I just don't like to use (like the plastic ones that are all bent out of shape). I just used some remnant fabric that I got from a bin at Walmart, about a half yard. Had some ribbon left over from my crochet roll that made a perfect color matching tie. Also added one modification to make the fold double thick, mostly because its prettier than the "wrong side" of the fabric.

My knitting roll 3 Originally uploaded by ssplam

My knitting roll 2 Originally uploaded by ssplam

My DPN Roll

dpn roll 3
Originally uploaded by ssplam

So I finished this one a little while back but never got around to posting "finished" photos. In my post For Robin I provided a link for where I found a pattern to make a DPN roll from some elastic and a store bought place-mat. Except for the part where my machine kept binding up on the elastic itself, it's an easy project. This other picture is of the roll all closed up, I used an iron-on dragonfly to decorate it and sewed an old button on with some elastic tied in to close the roll up.

dpn roll 4
Originally uploaded by ssplam

Crochet Hook Roll

Crochet Hook Roll 2
Originally uploaded by ssplam

Two things with this post. First, all of these fabulous needles ranging from 14 at the smallest to K at the largest, I won on an ebay auction for twenty bucks and change. I had about a dozen assorted needles before this arrived, and all but one of them are in projects somewhere.

Second, I just finished this roll last night. used a bit of ribbon, some piped edging, and 2 fat quarters of fabric.

Found the pattern at Planet June and thought I'd give it ago. Since I have my grandmothers case for knitting needles, and the one I made out of a placemat for my dpn's(for which I just realized I haven't posted finished pictures of) and no solutions for crochet hooks.

Crochet Hook Roll 1
Originally uploaded by ssplam

I'm not very good with a sewing machines mechanics... whatever settings it is at right now, are the settings it had when it was last messed with by my mom. Even still, I managed to make it come out like it was supposed to and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

Birthday

So Yesterday I turned 30. I had a fabulous birthday. At my work its typical that something happens, usually your cubie gets decorated and sometime in the afternoon there is cake and and about half the office comes to sing.

Birthday 01
Originally uploaded by ssplam

Well, my mom organized something different, from many states away. She called my work and spoke with my boss, organized a slightly larger event, and even had my brother and his family there. Everyone that was able to escape the phones for a few minutes was there and it was a little bit overwhelming, but fantastic. Even had enough cake to bring home a few pieces (usually there isn't enough cake to satisfy an office worth of people)



Then after work I went home to pick up my honey and we went out to dinner. Before that could happen there was another cake waiting for me from home.

Haven't had a bite yet but I'm told that it is super chocolate and its called a "Got Milk" cake. The cake is very tasty, Chocolate on the inside and chocolate on top.

Birthday 03
Originally uploaded by ssplam

We had reservations for the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant downtown. Everything that we ordered was so very tasty and I'm really glad that it was the place we chose to celebrate. Dinner for 100 bucks, and the chance to play with every bite of food before you eat it... completely worth it.

Birthday 06
Originally uploaded by ssplam

All in all, my first day of 30 was fabulous and I can only hope that it is a good year because it started out better than any other I can remember.