Spock Bolero

When I realized, rather late in the semester that I would be walking in the graduation ceremony at my university in May, I scrambled to put together an outfit to wear for the big day.  A dress, of course, with teal tights, shoes and accessories.  But strapless dresses just beg for some sort of mini jacket.  So I started searching for patterns.

And found this maui shrug pattern.

I had a friend pick up Red Heart Soft yarn in teal, two balls, and got to work on a medium shrug.  I pulled it out twice, as the pattern wasn't as clear as it could be, but eventually figured it out and started cranking.  I didn't keep the tension perfect, so one end was wider than the other in the end, making one sleeve larger in the end.  It ended up a little long from sleeve-end to sleeve-end, but it was exactly what I wanted.

Which would have been perfect if they hadn't sold out of the dress before I had the chance to purchase it.  So I ended up wearing something else entirely to graduation.  When the dress was finally back in stock, I nabbed it (the last one to ever be sold from the original distributor).  By that time, the clip and earrings had gone to another lucky lady, so the dream pretty much fell apart.  And then the final nail was my mother telling me the colors didn't go together.

I've never listened to anyone else about color or pattern choices I make, but it still hurt to have gone through all the effort to be told it was wasted on the people to see it.  I still love the mustard/brown/teal combination and keep looking for opportunities to show off the outfit.

Pictures to come.

Mother's Day + Flowerpots

So, after the rose I made for White Day, I had a request for a Mother's Day rose.  It was simple enough and done fast enough that it worked out perfectly for my roommate.  She was out with her mother while I finished and I left it for them to find when they got back.  Both of them were very, very pleased wit the result, as was I.

That was just the beginning.

From there, I made a flowerpot full of roses for my mother, out of chopsticks because I lacked anything else or the means to get anything else while at school.  I worked on it for what seemed like ever, through superhero movie marathons, through packing and moving out, through when I should have been studying for finals.  There was superglue everywhere.  My fingers may have been stuck together a number of times.  I might have left superglue on the dorm chair.  I wrapped toilet paper around the stems to arrange the flowers within the pot because I had nothing else.

But I finished it in time.

And then my grandmother tried to pick it up by the flowers.

But it was gorgeous and appreciated and something that was added to the bookcase knick-knacks beside the stuffed cat made of fabric scraps and pom-poms to commemorate when my mother's flame-point Siamese passed away.

And then everyone else wanted one.  For every occasion.  My grandmother for her birthday.  My aunt for her birthday.  My boss for her 'thanks for picking up the reins' present.  One of my mother's friends for some reason or other.  So many flowerpots.  They're easy, though.  Each rose takes about 20 minutes.  Calyx about 10-15.  Assembly another 5-10 each.  And then putting it all together in the pot, of course.

I graduated to from toilet paper and chopsticks to floral foam and hot dog sticks.  Work much better.  And gel superglue is much better than liquid superglue at keeping off your fingers.  Toothpicks help for application, too.