Back in the Zone

Since the vog (a.k.a The Vile Cloud of Crafting Doom) lifted, I've finally got myself into a nice crafting schedule again. This week it's been nothing but Itty Bitty Amigurumis. Between the crocheting and the origami, I find it a nice all around soothing craft.

As you can see, I've added some bears to my Itty Bitty repertoire. I experimented a bit with the muzzle -- I did an embroidered nose much like my bigger bears, but then I also tried out a black bead nose. I'm not sure which one I like better. What do you all think? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a better look of them all decked out in their crochet dresses.

I've been on a desperate hunt to find more colors of this fingering weight mohair yarn. As you can see all I have at the moment are white and yellow. The manufacturer doesn't make any other suitable colors. The problem with Hawaii is that yarn shops are so scarce so I almost always have to mail order in. It's a bit of a guessing game since you can't see and feel the yarn for yourself. So far I've purchased some mohair yarn from Canada hoping that it would be a good weight/ gauge match with the yarn I'm presently using. No such luck. It was way too thin. I've just ordered some yarn from New York and I'm crossing my eyes and fingers that they're a good match.


I haven't done an "In Other Cuteness" feature in awhile, but I've discovered something so absolutely, irresistibly cute that I simply must share it --

Please meet Pecan! How adorable is he sitting on a stump with his little elephant push toy?

"Pecan is the oldest and wisest of the Pecanpals. He is a master storyteller, often spending entire afternoons sitting under a tall palm tree, reading. He insists that all the knowledge you ever need to know is found in stories. Pecan likes to be aware of things that are happening on the island, making sure to visit each and every person on his daily rounds." -- Noferin

The PecanPals are a group of whimsical characters created by the Australian artists of Noferin. They do paintings based on their characters and recently they branched out into making wooden figures of them. I just had to snatch one up right away! If you would like to purchase one, too, I wouldn't wait very long. These little guys have been going fast!

Before I leave I have to annouce the winner of June's Reader Appreciation Giveway! Thank you to Andrea Rooks of Rooks Paper Scissors for all your support! I will contact you soon!

Happy crafting everyone! :)

It's the Vog's Fault, and the Return of Owls and the Reader Appreciation Giveway!

Ugh.

I hate it when I don't keep up with my regular scheduled posts. I've had a case of the blahs lately, which I blame on the recent weather. I know most people think that Hawaii weather is a dream -- and for the most part it is -- but sometimes we have this atmospheric phenomenon called vog, and it kicks me in the butt every time. Vog (volcanic smog) occurs when gases emitted from the Kilauea volcano in the Big Island mix with air, sun, and moisture and creates a smog like haze that makes the air feel thick, heavy, and sticky hot. Normally, it doesn't affect us much in Oahu, but occasionally wind will blow it down our way. Well, we recently experienced vog a couple of days running and it really choked the life out of me. Physically and mentally. Not only is the heat and humidity so miserable, but it's also rather depressing to look out at your once beautiful, crystal clear view of Diamond Head and see an ugly, brown film.

Anyway, I blame my vog addled brain for my lazy, blah, non-blogging state. Yep, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :)

When the air (and my head) finally cleared, I decided to make some owls. I hadn't whipped up any of those little critters in awhile. I decided to make a Thoughtful Little Owl and a pair of Scholarly Little Owls. It was fun taking a break from crocheting and getting reacquainted with my sewing machine again. I think I'm going to do even more sewing projects now.

So I'm painfully aware that I missed last month's Reader Appreciation Giveway . . . *sigh*. I feel horrible about it because I hate being willy-nilly about things, even though this blog is aptly named for such behavior. To make up for it I wanted to make June's Reader Appreciation Giveaway super special. So here it is:

My new favorite craft is origami. I find it so calming and fun, and I would love to pass on my joy of origami to someone else. For those of you unfamiliar with the art of Japanese paper folding or for those who could use some more origami supplies, I put together this mini origami crafting kit. In it there's an origami instruction book with 33 sheets of paper included, and I've tossed in two more packages of super sweet Japanese import origami paper. What fun! :) You all know the drill -- I'll be picking the winner at random from the comment pool of this post.

Thank you again for visiting my hopelessly willy-nilly, but obsessively crafty little corner of the universe! Aloha!