Caps for Cancer

        

I have two friends who are recovering from cancer surgery and treatment. When Katherine complained that she needed an extra-large cap but could not find any, I accepted the challenge to make one for her. Then somehow that led to making more caps.  Here are a few of the caps I've made. They are going to be donated to the cancer society. 

1960 Chevrolet

Yesterday we had some minor repair work done on our car. We waited in the dealership showroom and instead of seeing the newest and shiniest 2014 model, we saw 3 older cars. One was this 1960 Chevrolet Impala convertible. 

This boat was huge and lumbering and even kind of pretty. 

When I was going to high school, this was a must have car. 

The steering wheel was huge. Look at the speedometer...it goes up to 120 MPH without a hint of the metric system. The modern round dials told the temperature, battery and fuel information. Not a back-up cam or air bag in sightooi' My goodness, how did we drive safely?

 

The Chevy bowtie setting in the crest said it all. This was a great car!

No seat belts, no bucket seats, and zero to 60 by the end of the block -- with the top down, this was all you needed. 

Two Strange Plates

I collect license plates. Unlike my father
who covered a  wall of the garage with them, I take their pictures. I have a  PowerPoint file of license plates, each one on the map showing where it's from. 

The following license plate I can't put on a map because it's from an nonexistent place. Let me explain. Wyoming has 23 counties. The first two numbers on the plate designate the county. This plate is from County 24--also known as Longmire Country. 

The TV program Longmire takes place in  fictitious Absaroka County (but in reality it's filmed in New Mexico.)

This is a rare plate. It's from a real place, the Northwest Territories in Canada. It's one of the few plates in the world that has a shape other than a rectangle. According to Wikipedia less than 45,000 souls live in the Northwest territory yet it is home to eight different languages. I wanted to drive to Yellow Knife (the capital) one time, but it's a long long way from the world. I guess I'll just have to settle for looking at the license plate. 

Rain on Daisies

We had a slight sprinkle--maybe 17 drops of rain, and the daisies loved it. Take a look

And even more amazing, these photos were taken with an iPhone. I'll use these pictures as examples for my photography class this fall.

A Pink Elephant

                     

Yep! I made an elephant! No this hot pink baby is not a political statement. It's just an elephant because it's cute. I've learned that crocheted and knitted animals are called "amigurumi." 

This little guy is about 4 inches tall and 6 inches long from truck to tail. I found the pattern in the Lyon Brand App in case you want to make one. It took about 3 hours to crochet him, and another 2 hours to stuff and piece him together. Someone will like this little guy. 

                  

Caps

My "crochet pal" Christiana has asked me for lessons on cap-making. Since she is a long-distance pal, I've been making caps one step at a time, taking pictures along the way, and then texting her the directions. The results are cute. 

            

These caps (and others) will be donated to the Cancer Society. 

Another Purse

I'm not making a lot of blankets right now. It's warm and crocheting a big blanket in the heat is less than perfect. I've just finished an iPad purse or "pocket."

           

I lined the purse with a cool Wyoming themed fabric. I'm not a huge horse fan, but in love the design. 

          

There's a lot of room in the purse for additional cables...and if you have any electronics, you know there is a passel of cables. 

How To Train Your Dragon 2

I saw the movie yesterday. It was delightful. The message was clear--love is better than hate or fear. In addition to a heart-warming message, the animation was excellent. There were times I was sure I was looking at a real object instead of a cartoon of the object. The dragons were cute too. The movie has been out over a month, so you might have to rent it from Red Box, and when you do, it will be worth your time. 

Wildflower Collage

A few of the wildflowers in my yard. Note that the asters are blooming. Does that really mean only 6 more weeks of summer. 

P.S. Can you identify the flowers?

For Christiana

Christiana is my new crochet pal. We met on the Star Princess going to and from Alaska. She sent me this pattern last night, so I sat down on my back porch and made it in red white and blue. It seemed fitting for Independence Day Weekend. 

           

It's for a very tiny person as it "bearly" fits my smallest teddy bear. 

           

For My Cousin

My cousin is having a birthday soon and I wanted to make her something special. I'm an ace at blankets, but for some reason, I decided that a blanket was not going to be "it." Off to the hardware store, to look for solutions. (You might ask...the hardware store? Well, our hardware store sells a little bit of everything including fabric and yarn.) I went to the pattern display and saw a cute purse pattern that I liked it a lot. 

I chose a color yarn that was pretty, some fabric for lining and started working away. The crocheting on the purse was finished on the Star Princess before we reached Alaska. The lining was finished today. As a bonus feature I made a smart phone carrier too. 

The lining includes a pocket for all the small junk that collects in a purse..

                   

And the smart phone carrier is seamless. I've been reading about making seamless items and I figured it out. 

                 

Slowly, I'm branching out to crocheting items other than blankets. I'm having a lot of fun creating them too. 

If you'd like a purse, or a smart phone carrier, let me know and I'll make one for you. 

Backyard Treat

As we were getting ready for dinner, I looked outside and saw one of our resident does and next to her was a tiny fawn. The first fawn I've seen this summer. I tiptoed outside on the porch and saw a huge surprise. There was a second fawn about 10 feet we away from the mom. 

I tried to take pictures of all three, but they started to leave. Here's one of the little guys. The crook is 3 feet tall, so the spotted fellow is about 15-18 inches tall. I hope I see more of them this summer. 

By the way, I discovered deer like pansies as much as they like petunias. The deer liked the pansy buffet so much, we moved them to a friend's home. The remaining planter boxes are completely destroyed with uprooted plants. Deer are a mixed blessing. Given that, I love having them around. 

Glassblowing

First and foremost, I am not a glass blower! I have always looked at glass blowers as people who create magical illusions out of everyday "stuff." How can someone take molten sand and shape it with air and talent to make beautiful works of art? Never did I think I would have an opportunity to say "I did that." I am not Dale Chihuly, but I can say I have participated in the creation of a glass globe!

            

I made this globe. I put a steel rod into a molten mass of glass and collected a small "glob" of it. I rolled the rod to even out the glob of glass then reheated it in the glory hole (and even hotter furnace). With the help of a master glass blower, we blew tiny puffs of air into the glob to make a globe. The sphere was reheated and the drapery design was applied by gauging the very hot glass with a simple tool that looked like a nail on a pole. The glass was reheated and shaped again, before the rod was removed from the ball and a small dab of molten glass was "glued" to the bottom to form a base. From there the ball was put into an annealing chamber to cool. 

All if this happened in Skagway, Alaska a few days ago. I received my globe today in the mail! 

I also received a second piece of glass. Remember I told you about this on June 20? In less than 10 minutes the master glass blower created a ruffled bowl. I bought the bowl before anyone else had a chance to bid on it!

To give you an idea about size, here they are together.

Do you think the folks at Orient and Flume or Tiffany will hire me?