by deets

The first Detroit Maker Faire was a resounding success, a fantastic, inspiring weekend.  I’m going to share all the pictures with you, but I only managed to take two.  All of that awe inducing awesomeness left me a bit distracted.

Along with too many others to list, I saw an egg being turned into art right before my eyes, unbelievably awesome giant puppets, a bit dragon parade (disclaimer, I am married to its head maker), and all sorts of handmade artisans and makers displaying their wares.

It was an honor to be a part of it, and the two editor’s choice blue ribbons for my booth were icing on the cake.  Watch next summer for when they come back, and get making!

I found this awesome bottle at Treasure Mart a bit ago.  Apparently Space Foods Co., based in Baltimore, declared bankruptcy back in 1953, before distributing any of their product, or even filling the bottles in most cases!  It was going to be flavored syrup for home soda machines.  Now he’s just a cool bottle, or bank I suppose, as there’s a coin slot in the cap too.

I’d like to share some of my other crafty ventures, namely my newest skill - crochet.  It all began with a ninja from the book Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden, and since then I’ve been making amigurumi with a passion.  I’ve found that there is little as satisfying as making your kids stuffed toys, and seeing them snuggle up to them at night.

Along with Ravelry, a fantastic site loaded with ideas, patterns (many of which are free), and forums for any and all questions, I have found many, many great sellers of crochet patterns on etsy.  The Monster Mash - Barnabus from rosieok is one of these.  I used two different self striping yarns, and improvised the pattern of stripes and length of the arms, legs, and antenna as I went along.  I think he’s pretty adorable, and hope my nephew feels the same!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite days of the year. As a kid, my mom was the best mom to have when it came to costumes. I said what I wanted to be, and she made it. Without a doubt I had some of the most amazing costumes you could imagine (my personal favorite was Wicket the Ewok.) So following in my mom’s footsteps, I’ve been making my kids’ costumes every year with the help of my sister. My sewing skills aren’t nearly those of my mother though, and my son’s requests don’t involve existing patterns, so it makes for a fantastic challenge every year. Without further ado, here are some photos of this year’s Halloween. My son is Palkia, a legendary pokemon. My daughter was very excited to wear the pirate costume her brother wore at three, so we lucked out there. All we had to do was buy some kick ass pirate boots to finish.

"the palkie pose"

arrrrgh