Wedding Planning Update

This past weekend was another whirlwind wedding (and family) weekend. We got our engagement photos done (finally, after a few attempts to get one set up...its rather difficult when you live 5 hours away from the photographer!)

Met with people from Queen of Cakes in Edina. Told them about this cake and showed them the picture (via the link on my previous blog post). Figured that it was not going to be doable, being that its fondant, we want buttercream (partly for the taste factor, partly for the cost factor....anything they do in buttercream doesn't cost extra!) But when the first lady looked at it she started getting interested and showed it to another in the room and they were both getting excited about figuring a way to make it work. So I'm pretty thrilled about that.

We talked with our DJ on Sunday since all of our contact up to this point has just been via email or facebook.

Oh yeah....added a ton of stuff to our registries. Target, Bed Bath and Beyond have the most things so far but we're looking into doing REI as well (signed up for it but I don't think I've added anything to the registry yet)

Got all our paper for the invites. I had wanted to get stuff for the programs as well but I really didn't know how I wanted to do it.

what do I want?

I think the hardest part of wedding planning is just deciding what the heck I want out of something. Right now I'm back into looking at wedding cake stuff....trying to decide what I want and what would look good, and what can they do with buttercream (cause even though fondant looks neat, I've heard it doesn't taste all that great...and I think its more expensive?). On one hand I'd love to have a crazy cake like they have on the show Ace of Cakes (if the cost wasn't so understandably astronomical) but on the other, sometimes a simple cake sounds best.

I've been perusing flickr for good stuff. Here is one neat cake with birch bark and another with piped on ferns and fondant mushrooms. Minus the marzipan lemons, this one is a nice design. I should say, the lemons are pretty freaking sweet looking...just would have nothing to do with my theme or interests! Oh...here is one I love, but I'm fairly sure its fondant...but its a cute birch bark tree!

woohoo!

Woohoo! They're done. Well..there is one more that is in progress but all I've got left is an arm and a tail and its super cute. But these guys were all done and I couldn't wait until all the final animal was done to get pictures! Just on the off chance that any of the kidlets these are going to ever check my blog (doubtful but you never know) I'm not saying which one goes to who. Not until after this weekend when they get them!

Spinning "Exotic" Fibers

Some people think its so strange or even macabre to spin with fur from your own pets. I don't get what the big deal is. We make yarn from sheep, llama, alpaca, goats....but also things like rabbits. Last I knew, those can often be pets (so can the big animals if you choose to..but smaller animals are more common, I understand that)

Its not like I'm shaving my dog bald to get her fur. All I'm doing is brushing her and saving the fur that comes off the brush.

Well, whether people think its weird or not, I'm saving Moxi's lovely golden fur to spin. I was originally going to send it away to have someone spin it for me, but there is a woman in my area who will be offering a class in March for this for fairly cheap...so I figure why not? I want to learn how to get better on a spinning wheel anyway. I don't know that I'll ever buy a wheel and use it regularly but its a skill that is dying out and I want to learn more.

Depending on how much yarn I get out of it, I have two plans at least for the finished product: a stuffed dog (like the one is this post ) and maybe a rose or something ornamental.

Frankly I'm pretty excited that I finally have enough fur collected to do anything with it. About half a paper grocery bag. I'd have tons more if the fur she sheds onto the floor was viable, but of course that's not! I swear, I'd probably have her weight in fur by now of all she has shed!

Almost Done...sorta

I keep feeling like I'm almost done with all the critters for Christmas...but then I think about it and I still have a good 5 hours left of work, just on the main 6 (which actually got expanded to 7) I have one Knitter Critter 100% done and photographed. 5 are just missing arms. Due to the expanding to a 7th, that's an extra 5 or so hours on top of the time it will take to do the arms for the others.

Well, at least the 2nd pair of socks is getting close. I just turned the heel last night! It will be done in plenty of time. Yay for that.

Christmas Knitting

No matter how early I start, I think I always end up running out of time for all my Christmas knitting. Two years ago I had to give my SIL only one sock because I hadn't finished the second one. Last year I had to give my mom only one of her washcloths because I hadn't finished hers (I made some for all the women in the family.....they may be simple projects and my family isn't huge...but it was a lot of work)

But anyway, I think I've made a good start. One pair of socks is done. Another is in progress and will go quicker since they are a shorter pair and I'm doing them in only stockinette stitch...that makes them go lots faster!

And as I mentioned before, I'm making lots of jellybums. At least 6 minimum. Maybe another 3 or 4 depending on time constraints. Unfortunately I still haven't gotten word on favorite colors and animals from a couple of the kids and I don't want to duplicate anything...color or animal if I can help it. So...I figure since the style of legs is the exact same on all the animals, I'm just going to start making legs in all the different colors I have and when I figure out and make the critters that need them, they'll be ready!

Crafting Update

I know...I don't update this all that often. Anyway, just updating on what's going on in my crafting world. Main priority for a while was projects for the Odd Ducks Swaps I was in...did a flying monkey for my Oz swap. Can't reveal the other just yet since she hasn't recieved it yet.

Getting going on my Christmas knitting....again, can't reveal too much yet cause I don't know who reads this....although I am making Jellybums for a lot of the kids...should be fun.

My crayons have gotten a recent boost...my coworkers at my new job love them....some they are buying for themselves. Some are buying them for nieces, nephews, friends, etc. Its pretty sweet. One person alone nearly wiped out my supply of larger crayons! I need to get cracking....or peeling first I  guess :) Although, I have set my coworkers to that task when things are slow....some of them find it relaxing :)