January | 2013 | The Whole Knit & Caboodle

Clayin’ Around

by wholeknitandcaboodle

Heaven help us, I’ve found another crafting obsession. So many people I know are into making polymer clay handles for crochet hooks. I’ve never used one (I like my hooks naked) but I’m taking part in a gift exchange and have decided to make a set of covered hooks for my “giftee”. I watched some tutorials, harassed some people I know who are into clay and picked their brains. I went to Michaels armed with a 50% off coupon and bought a big sample pack of Primo Sculpey. I was a little scared to open it- it sat on my kitchen table for days and I’d pick it up now and then, poke at the colours through the little windows in the box and set it back down.

While I was digging through my craft stash I found a couple packages of Sculpey III I bought a few years ago for another project. They had been opened and the clay was hard and crumbly but after kneading it for a while I got it to a state where I could actually do something with it. I figured it was good enough to practice with and when I’m confident I’ll open the pretty new stuff.

The lady I’m making the set of hooks for likes things that are sort of creepy-cute so I’m going with a skeleton/skull theme. When I was in elementary school my music teacher played “Danse Macabre” for our class. This little skeleton guy makes me think of that.

Still needs to curing and a coat or two of sealant but not too bad for a first attempt!

I definitely need a little more practice but I’m happy with my trial run. I’ll use this one for a little while and if I can get used to using a covered hook the next set I make will be a peacock set for myself 😉

I also found an empty Penaten Cream can that I may cover and pretty up. Ahhh!! SO many ideas for this clay. We’re in trouble.

Crochet Polymer Clay

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There s’no man like our snowman!

by wholeknitandcaboodle

One of my favourite memories from childhood involves a snowman. I was probably no older than 10 or 11 and I remember having a LOT of snow that year. It was one of the first years my parents were divorced and my sister and I were at our dad’s house for his week of shared custody. My dad rented a little cottage on a lane back from the main road and behind us were other modest cottages and a few family homes, most of the cottages being vacant for the winter.

We didn’t have money for sleds or skis but you didn’t need money to have fun in the snow and my sister and I along with a couple other neighbourhood kids decided we were going to make the biggest snowman ever. It probably wasn’t the behemoth I remember but it was pretty huge- I’m pretty sure one or more of the neighbourhood dads had to help us stack the snowballs for it.

We assembled the monster of a snowman, gave him a face, arms and buttons but we didn’t have any clothes for the poor little guy. It was getting dark and frozen and wet we went inside for the night, SO proud of our masterpiece.

When we got up in the morning, there was an amazing surprise waiting for us- At some point during the night our snowman had acquired a hat and scarf and they fit our giant guy to a T!

We never found out who was behind it but not knowing made it that much more magical and I’ve loved snowmen since.

My two year old daughter is a little obsessed with snowmen herself. Today we had the perfect snowman making conditions. We’ve had a fair amount of snow fall in the last few days and it the temperature was mild enough that the snow was a sticky enough to pack it together. We got bundled up- just my little bee and I- and wandered out into the winter wonderland that is our back yard.

We worked together, adding and shaping the snow (I was surprised at how interested she was in helping, being so little) and had him put together before too long. “How does he look?” I asked my daughter as we were shaping him. “With a EYES” she told me matter-of-factly.

He stands about just shy of 3′ tall- about the same height as my daughter. When we finished, she gave him a hug and a kiss on the nose and said “Wuv you sooo-man” (that makes my heart ache a little).

I’m so glad we got out this afternoon. Here are a couple pictures of my girl and her new Snow friend.

A kiss on the nose ❤

I’m not sure what he said but whatever it was, it was hilarious!

Family

Just call me “Twinkle Toes”

by wholeknitandcaboodle

Along with the diamond earrings I’ve been (not-so-subtly) hinting about since we got together almost 7 years ago (!! I was SO stunned and excited!), my husband bought me this awesome little nail polish kit- the Ciaté Mini Mani Month. It’s a box that looks like an advent calendar and behind each door is a different mini nail polish (so cute!). I think he really likes going into The Bay and buying things like that for me. One year he bought me a Christian Dior makeup palette and it was one of my favourite gifts that year! It might be that he likes to step outside of his comfort zone and into the woman’s realm of potions, powders and lotions- It could also be that he loves being fawned over by the girls at the cosmetics counter at the department store.. haha.

In any case.. I love this little set and I foresee a purchase of a couple full-sized bottles in my future! It’s a nice polish, the colours I’ve tried have covered well and have been easy to remove. One of the coolest things about the kit though is that it comes with four bottles of these tiny, multi-coloured metallic beads they call “Caviar Pearls”. I painted my toenails this evening and used the caviar pearls only on my big toes.

Ciaté “Cutie Pie” with “Prom Queen” Caviar Pearls

This is the best photo I could get with the terrible light from the lamp. The caviar pearls are really quite sparkly! I might try them on my fingernails next. I’m not sure if they’ll be really amazing or really annoying- we’ll see if they pass the crochet test 😉

Well I guess I should toddle back to bed. I hope everyone had a great New Year and I’m sure 2013 has many, many wonderful things in store. I have some really great projects to post in the next little while so keep your eyes open for them!

Nail Colour/Art