fortyfive: i'm a milliner

in the past three weeks i have crocheted three hats. one for each of my parents and one for myself. i was inspired by a hat my mom made me a few years ago (i did not take a picture or it, because i lost it somewhere in my room) and a hat my friend jenn was wearing during the inauguration. jenn has been after a knitted beret ever since we saw the movie elizabethtown (note the red hat kirsten dunst is wearing) and she was finally able to find a similar one this winter. i was unsure how my version of the beret would turn out (the top two pictures), because i did not use a pattern, but i think it looks surprisingly good.

fortyfour: i went to the inauguration

i went to obama's inauguration on tuesday. it was a pretty amazing.
i went to the inauguration with three other friends. we met up at my house and were aiming to leave around 7:30, but didn't get out of the house until around 8. we were suppose to take a bus into the city, but after talking to a number of people that didn't know anything about the bus we decided to brave the crowds on the metro. after seeing several trains go by without taking any passengers (because they were totally full) we decided to take an outward bound train and stay on it until it went towards the city. it took about 15 minutes to get to the last stop on the line, but then another 1 1/2 hours to get into dc (a ride that would usually take about 20 minutes). everyone was excited and towards the end of the ride people were singing patriotic songs.
we got on the mall at around 10:30 and were able to find some space with a good view of one of the jumbotrons. the crowd was pretty partisan (there were boos when bush came out and cheers when the clintons & obama (obviously) were introduced). once the swearing-in was over, there was a mass exodus out of the mall. my friends and i decided to leave after bush's helicopter left.
the crowd outside of the mall was pretty crazy. everyone was basically trapped into a little car park with no exit, except between a couple bushes. the crowd was so thick i couldn't see anything but people and could not negotiate my way around the group. luckily, the current of the crowd was going in the direction we needed to go (towards the lincoln memorial and out of dc). we decided to walk out of the city via memorial bridge. the entire time we were walking i felt like i was a refugee, because the streets were lined with police and soldiers. before the inauguration someone told me that there were more members of the military in dc for the inauguration than in iraq. i am not sure if that is right, but i believe it.
we decided to watch the inauguration parade at my house which turned out to be a good idea, since the parade started a couple hours late.

below are some pictures from inauguration. i found a photo editing site called poladroid, which is why all of the pictures look like polaroids. here are some pictures from the inauguration that i edited with poladroid (be prepared to see a lot more polaroids posted):
people at the bottom of the washington monument
the crowd after the swearing-in ceremony
outside the white house a few days before the inauguration

fortythree: more earrings.

i am pretty pleased with myself, i can't get over how good these photos look. i have been really enjoying making earrings, i can finish them quickly and it is easier to experiment with them than with larger pieces (like necklaces). the pair at the top are my fave, but i must admit i like them all.
i read an article today about how the recession is helping crafters. too bad i didn't do more on etsy, i suppose i have missed the christmas rush. one of my coworkers found this site today, which looks like it follows the same model as etsy. i can't decide whether or not i even want to sell my stuff. one of my neighbors asked if i was selling anything yesterday and i told her no, even though i have about 20 necklaces i have been saving. one problem is i don't want to part with anything and have the new owner not appreciate the piece as much as i do.

fortytwo: the fema house

i made my first attempt at making a gingerbread house on saturday. i found a great site that included a template for the walls and roof of the house. i cut out the different pieces after work one day and was not paying too much attention to what i was doing. the result was lopsided walls and a roof with a gap of half an inch in some places.
for a while, it looked like the house was going to turn out well. the walls were standing up and the roof was not collapsing. we even started to place vanilla wafers on the roof to mimic shingles (this may have been our fatal mistake). sadly, we were not able to finish the roof. the wafers slowly fell down and eventually half of the roof came down. to prevent the walls from separating we tied a piece of string around the house. my mom thinks the house is hilarious and is introducing it to everyone as the 'FEMA house' (not a very pc name).
if i ever make another house, i think i will try to make it themed. i was thinking of a sweeney todd themed gingerbread house, because my favorite gingerbread people to decorate are the dismembered ones (see the picture below).
BEFORE:
AFTER:
COLLATERAL DAMAGE (from the falling shingles):

fortyone: written in the stars

so, apparently a number of my coworkers are really into astrology. i have never been one to care much about the alignment of the planets, but i have become more interested in all that nonsense recently. one of my coworkers showed me this site. i input the time, date, and location of my birth and then it told me everything i could possibly want to know about myself. a lot of the information was dead on, even silly things like the fact that i walk quickly.
here are some of the necklaces i plan on giving away for xmas:

forty: christmas gifts

after a fairly late start, i have finally finished most of my xmas shopping and crafting. below is a picture of some of the earrings and necklaces that i will be giving away on the 25th.

thirtynine: experimenting with colors

i am playing with backgrounds and color to make more interesting photos. here are some of the results. i think the least successful pictures are the bottom two (the red and wood backgrounds). i noticed a lot of people on etsy use stone or slate in their photos, but i don't really like that look. i am also looking for interesting accessories to dangle my earrings on. i am getting bored with my terracotta bowl.