Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Ball

"... I'll never know what made it so exciting, why all at once my heart took flight..."

There's nothing like a ball to make a Grinch's heart grow three sizes.


That's my little cuz. She's a sugar-free kid herself, and her parents were king and queen of The Kingdom for a Cure Ball. They raised over $128K for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and besides that it was fun! It's always a good time when your entire family gets dressed and bes fancy together.


Brother and girlfriend, standing on our bed to avoid the royal getting ready mess.


Brother's girlfriend and my mom, taking a carriage ride.


Me and my dad. We be fancy together.



All of the being fancy was just a bonus, though. It felt good to do good. This may seem like a no-brainer to you, but I am generally anti-Fund Raiser. Can't explain it. But those kids thought I was a real honest-to-goodness princess, seriously. They stand there with their eyes wide, looking up at me like I had just hopped out of a cartoon. They wanted their moms to bring them over to meet me.


It was the most fun thing about the whole night, and I think the little buggers got to me. I know they weren't looking up at me like that because of the banners that I made or the little bit of money we were able to give, but the two things got mixed up in my heart. It made me wonder what else could be done.


This is one of the two banners that I made. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos better than this one.

But next year there will be another Ball, and I wonder what kind of item I might raffle off myself here on the blog or on Ravelry or on eBay that might raise a bit more money for Senor and I to donate than we can afford to give ourselves... Any suggestions? We've got a year.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

What it's all worth.

Pre-script: As of last night, my total percentage of weight lost in 2008 was brought up to 2.86%. Yahoo!

Here's a little story from a few weeks ago that got lost in the holiday shuffle. Non-knitters, you may find this a bit shocking. Knitting devotees, you'll know exactly how I felt.

Before setting out for Oklahoma for a snow-dusted down-home Christmas, my parents and brother swung by our apartment with some champagne to say Cheers! and wish us well. Our bags were packed, our ride to the airport arranged, and everything was fine. We had a little drink and watched the clock tick away. When it was time, we picked up and loaded up and headed for the airport. My brother drove us, so we didn't have to pay a cab.

We waited in an impressively short line to check in, considering it was the Friday before Christmas. Check in went smoothly, and as we walked away from the self-check-in machine two bags lighter I thought eagerly to the time when we would be through the security line and seated waiting for the plane with knitting. in. hand. oh. sweet. jeebus. where. the. hell. is. my. knitting bag?!

It was at home. In the confusion of people and partying, I'd left my carefully packed holiday knitting bag in the middle of the living room floor. My heart liquified and ran down into my legs, which became very heavy, and I stopped walking. Senor looked at me with that face that says, "Oh no, what did you forget that's going to cause big problems?" I answer, "My knitting is at home." "Can you live without it?" he asked. "Yes. No. I'm taking a cab home to get it." Since we were already checked in and had almost two hours before we had to be at the gate, there was plenty of time. I ran out and caught a cab.

Now, please understand, we live walking distance from the airport. It would be a long walk, but we could do it. We live to the soundtrack of take offs and landings; it's a short drive.

But it's not free.

The cab driver took me home and waited while I ran upstairs. Then he drove me back as I hugged my yarn tightly. He said I seemed relieved. Dude, you have no idea.

So what was my knitting worth? $30 cash. Taking into consideration the inconvenience factor and the I'm-a-Dumbass quotient, it felt like $50 (then again, add in the relief factor, and it felt like someone had just given me $50, so I think we broke even overall).



Saturday, January 19, 2008

UNCLE!!!



Okay, Okay, I'll do it. I'll make a Monkey, FINE!!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Crafts for the Little Sugar-Free Kids

I am helping make decorations for the Royal Ball, and here is what I've come up with today:


They look much better in real life, of course, but I have to say that from scratch to shields, these aren't half-bad! And it's been a few years (like 15+) since I used glitter glue, but damn, that stuff is fun!!

I hope that these will help get people in the donating spirit! Cure for Juvenile Diabetes, here we come!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Long Awaited

I made this little item months ago. In fact, I started it on Halloween night as a plumber plumbed potato peels out of my kitchen sink. It was a whimsy of an experiment that I hoped would turn into a prototype of sorts. But it was also a Christmas present intended for the baby of a reader, and thus never got mentioned. Now the gift has been received, safely delivered over vast oceans, in Australia, and the evidence is clear: The baby is cuter than the dress, but the dress is damn cute if I do say so myself.


As Maddie is now a mover and a shaker, it's hard to get a good view of the craftiness. Here are a few that I took before sending it. Here is the front:



And the back:


And a close up of some of my handstitching, just to prove I did some. You can tell I love this kid (and her mommy).

Monday, January 14, 2008

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

At the end of this month, Senor and I will be attending a Royal Ball. The event is called "Kingdom for a Cure", and it's a fundraiser for juvenile diabetes. My cousin's little girl was diagnosed with the disease at 18 months old and has been fighting it ever since. Being conscientious people and parents (and lovers of formal events in general), my cousin and her husband are throwing a Ball.

So I had to get a dress, right? I don't have mice and sparrows to make me one, so my mom and I did the next best thing. We went to the garment district in Downtown L.A. I present to you Princess Senora Fuerte:


Now all I need is a pair of glass slippers and a tiara. Yeah baby!

And then I'll have to be Belle for every Halloween from now on. Or maybe I'll audition for the Mrs. America pageant... I'd just have to get a big sunshine-shaped headdress (why do they do that to the married ones?).

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

The New Year's Eve Effect

Why Why Why does a lovely evening that starts out looking like this:

(note the hand-knits and jaunty disposable hats)

Always leave at least one person looking like this:


At least the table cloth soaked up my pinot before it reached his pant-legs...

How do you do the New Year? And is it ever as good as you hoped? For next year, boy I tell you what...

...Bomb Shelter.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The Year It All Happens

I have declared 2008 as "The Year It All Happens". It's all gonna happen. All of it. For you. For me. Whatever It you've been waiting for, It's gonna happen in 2008.

While it is now 8 days into '08, I haven't been slacking, I've been busier than ever, just not with blogging. 7 days into a lifestyle change (no, nothing like that) I am down 1 1/2 pounds. That's 0.99% of my starting weight for any Big Losers out there. I'm heading for 15%. This alone has kept me busy for the entire week.

I also have some knitting adventures to show. I bring you:

CHRISTMAS IN KNITS

My first and probably only knitting on snow photo. These have had two fingers of ends woven in so far. I haven't touched them since, but every morning when it's cold, I look longingly at them and know that I will get to it just in time for the first scorching blush of Spring.


Jaywalker 4.0 is finished!! They've been worn and washed already, even. Of course, 4.2 stripes very evenly and neatly, while 4.1 must have had an extra strategic decrease that I forgot about... just check out the pooling!!!


And I got to see the Peapod's owner:

Yeah. Baby!

And here's a new baby sweater:


And a grown-up thing for me:

It's a second capelet, because I can't wear the gray one Every day.

That's all for now. (Welcome back.) Thank you.