While trapped in the house due to chicken pox quarantine and blazing heat avoidance, I’ve been trying to accomplish things around the house. Most of these things don’t lend themself to blogging, unless you’re interested in:

• disposing of plastic food storage containers with no matching lids (or vice versa),
• recycling cardboard boxes strewn about the garage,
• putting books on the bookcase we moved upstairs,
• packing up old school books to send back to K12 to make room for the new books that will arrive any day now,
• posting our old microwave on Freecycle,
• or pulling the creeping weeds of evilness that invaded our yard.

One project is photogenic enough to warrant mention, though. Using this starched fabric decal tutorial, I added a giraffe to Brady’s room.

The recessed area above his bed was definitely lacking something. I wanted an easily removed, cheap bit of artwork since the Pottery Barn jungle animal motif will disappear when the baby outgrows his crib. Using this lamp for inspiration:

I bought two yards of white and yellow gingham fabric for $2 at our local Store-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named, as well as a 52 cent scrap of orange. I made an enlarged paper pattern of the giraffe using Rapid Resizer, cut out the body, and stuck the fabric up there using the tutorial directions. I was concerned that the bumpy wall texture (prevalent in Arizona houses) would cause a heinous end result, but it worked out fine (although smooth walls = best results). I then cut some freehanded orange spots; in retrospect, I would have liked a lighter orange, but not enough to warrant a trip to another fabric store.

Kyle thinks that I should add a tree. And clouds. And a bird. (This project was easy, but not THAT easy.)

I vaguely recall that this was originally supposed to be a knitting blog. My knitting output has diminished greatly since the baby arrived. (Note: I was knitting prior to his arrival, but failed to document any of it. It involved booties and hats that were outgrown in the blink of an eye, because Brady is in the 90th percentile for height/weight.) But while we’re discussing crafty stuff, I’ll post this:

The second sleeve to my #@!* Hourglass Sweater, which had better fit this time around. I am so close to finishing it, but am so bored of endless stockinette stitch with Classic Elite Bam Boo (Bougainvilla) yarn that hurts my hands.

And this:

A Shadow Scarf in Knitpicks Shimmer (Bayou). I was working on one of these before my lace yarn met a tragic end and I frogged the whole thing. (Pussycat has only attacked the yarn for this scarf during the initial winding, resulting in minor damages. Knock on wood.) I like knitting lace. It appeals to my perfectionist side. This project is highly portable with an easily memorized pattern (about all I can hope for at the moment) and the resulting fabric is super soft and cuddly. Yay!