New Project

I know I have a lot of things in progress, but last weekend I helped my sister make some Skrinky-Dinks and a thought caught got in my brain! Shrinky Dinks are perfect dog tags and my dogs are naked!! So I should make tags and necklaces to hold these tags. I say necklaces because I don't mean collars. We have dog collars but they don't wear them as a rule. I'm thinking of something light enough that they probably couldn't hang themselves if they got caught up in their crates, but something that would keep their new tags on them for at least a while. BUT my cats DO have collars on! So I made the cats some tags, and some other test tags, and a key chain for myself.

Here are the Shrinky-Dinks one minute into shrinking

I blurred my phone number out, so that part looks weird. Then my batteries ran out so I didn't get any finished pictures. I'll shoot for those (and more tags) tomorrow.

Here's an updated project list:
-Recently completed-
Nunchucks - HUGE hit with the 4 year old nephew! I still need to get a picture of them though. I'm definitely going to make more of these, will probably need some guinea pigs product testers for these, but so far the durability is great. I'd like to make some for my dogs too, I think they could make really cool dog toys for dogs who like to shake toys! Also, these inspired another idea, Power Ranger / Ninja / Samurai head gear. I'll have to figure out how to do that though, so it may be awhile.

Pot protectors - Good hit with Dad, will have to see if the dimensions are good though, we just eyeballed it. They ended up being kind of cool, they're basically 2 crochet dishcloths sewn together with a layer of terry cloth and a layer of craft foam inside. They are designed to go between the pots in the storage in the cabinets to prevent denting or staining the pans. I got my parents a set of stainless steel cookware for Christmas, and Dad apparently loves them enough to protect them. I used a Red Heart camo colored yarn for these and the way it striped into camo was just awesome. Now I want another project to use that on... also, Dad liked the way these turned out so well, he's asked me to make him another, as thin as possible to keep the contents of his breast pocket aligned and flat. So I guess I'm going to crochet a pocket protector?


-New Starts-
Necklaces / Tag holders for the dogs - crochet, I'll need 7 of these! Not sure if I want to do Martingale style or flat buckle style or something else. I need to decide that and get to work on this sometime this week or weekend.

Tags for the cats and dogs - Shrinky Dinks and markers or colored pencils. I made some test tags and tags for the cats last night. Coloring on both sides of the plastic looks great, but it's really easy to scratch or rub the maker off. I think that cutting the shapes out before coloring will help with the damage that is done before the plastic gets into the oven. I am also going to try baking the plastic on a brown paper bag rather then foil. To increase the lifespan of the tags, I'm considering putting the information on one layer of the plastic, then fusing another over the top of it, so that it would be totally encased. I don't remember ever doing these as a child, so I'm really enjoying Shrinky Dinks now.

-Things I should start soon-
Dad's Pocket Protector - crochet, by request. I have the crochet thread, the smallest I've ever tried to work with and the small hook to do it. I'm just waiting on the measurements from Dad.

My Hat! - Loom Knit. For Christmas, I made Rob and Karen each a stocking and a matching ear flap hat. Rob's is a "Jayne Hat" too. I need to decide if I want my hat to match my stocking (that would require more yarn) or be a Jayne hat like Rob's. This was on the back burner until Kody Bear (the dog) chewed up last year's hat.


Things still in progress
My Christmas garland - I'm loving this one! It's a fairly mindless pattern (it's also the base of a ruffled scarf, only much longer and thinner). I've been working on it in waiting rooms this week, so I've gotten several feet down. The end is in sight! Unfortunately, the Christmas decorations are already up on the very high shelf in the garage so I don't know where I will store this to make sure it gets on the tree next year.

Rock rug - I'm dying to get back to this one! Karen got me some great grey and black Homespun to use in this project and it's sitting in a basket calling to me.

Karen's lap blanket - Loom knit on the Infinity Loom. I think I've been working on this for at least 2 years. I really need to get into it and just do it, but it's so large it's not really portable.

-Projects on deck-
Numchucks for dogs and maybe cats
Sticks of dynamite for dogs and cats
My moss rug

I also always have a wish list of things I'd like to start soon but don't have the plans / patterns or materials for yet, so they can't really be considered on deck:
New purse for myself
Rag rugs

More Newness

We have 6 more baby guinea pigs, and a new bathroom floor and toilet. It was one of those deals where you need a new toilet then discover the floor underneath it got wet and you need a new floor too. It looks really nice now, but it was a lot of work.

I managed to get Dad's potholders and a couple sets of nunchucks finished. Pot holders and bathroom floors aren't terribly interesting so no pictures of those and I can't get my nephew to stand still with the nunchucks, so we're still trying for pictures of those too.

Guinea pigs were up for pictures, so I have some more pictures of those for you.

Here is a cute little white one, I have 2 like this. I just love how they look like little sheep.

The big piggie is PennyPig, the little red and white girl in the back doesn't have a name yet, but I'm thinking I'd like to keep her. The white head sticking out of the house belongs to BudLight. We brought her home from the reptile show after the feeder breeder said he'd throw her away if he couldn't sell her because she was sick. She had a case of scurvy and a upper respiratory infection. So with a bag of oranges and less then $10 in meds, BudLight is fine other then a head tilt which will probably never go away. She is the friendliest pig we have. She got her name because she was sent home in a Bud Light box. She was also allegedly male.

My Rodent Kingdom has expanded!

Earlier tonight, I found these little cuties had been born almost a week early! That's not really a problem for them, guinea pigs take due dates as a slight suggestion, nothing more. Guinea pigs reproduce like tribbles... you're never really sure when you're going to get more. When you do, they are just 'there' the birth process is generally short and undramatic and the little ones are running around the cage nibbling on hay in a few hours. They look like little stuffed animals.

We have 2 girls (the red and white and one of the whites) and 1 boy so far. There may be another 1 on the way in this litter. I have a few other sows who are also due in the next week or 2. These are not your average guinea pig. They are texels, when they're grown up they'll have long wavy to curly hair like poodles.

2012 already

Oh boy, I still haven't been able to beat 2 posts per year! This is terrible. I'll just consider this a restart then. Right now we're coming off a very very busy time. I've been helping my mom out after her shoulder surgery and we had puppies, guinea pigs and rats for Christmas. So a lot of babies needing cared for. Now we're down to just the permanent residents. Go down to the bottom of the post to meet one of my critters.

Right now, I have a few crafty projects in the works:
Nunchucks - knit on the loom and toddle sized, very cool.
Pot protectors - crochet, to go between the pots in the cabinets, requested by Dad.
Christmas garland - crochet, for my tree next year
Rock rug - crochet and loom knit, it's been in progress for over a year now!

Of course there are more crafty projects on deck:
Numchucks for dogs and maybe cats
Sticks of dynamite for dogs and cats

I also always have a wish list of things I'd like to start soon but don't have the plans / patterns or materials for yet, so they can't really be considered on deck:
New purse for myself
Rag rugs

Meet Firefly's General Disarray aka Ray aaka Noodle

Ray is an 8 year old Shih Tzu. He thinks that he is king of the house, and about 8 feet tall. a lot of little dogs have that problem but so far it hasn't gotten Ray into too much trouble. He is a bit big and stocky for a Shih Tzu, but that is just about perfect. He's basically a bulldog in a Shih Tzu suit. Ray's favorite crafts are soft toys to chew on, like fleece braided ropes, stuffed balls and unstuffed critters.