Drag Queen's Wig Wreath

This wreath is worthy of a drag queen's head, and I made it!

Using single-strand garland from Dollar Tree, red hyacinths from Joann, cinnamon pine cones from Dollar General, and floral bits from various stores affixed with hot glue & floral wire, a wig was born. 

It's on a 30" frame, the largest of the wreathes I've made to date. I have a 30" twig wreath awaiting adornment, but it shall have to be patient. Tomorrow I shall gather leaves from our magnolia to festoon it, along with bulbs I sought but only found in a resale shop and many pine cones, both gold and brown. 

Living room fan, almost

I putup the fan in the living room today. I'd hoped to surprise Kevin with it done before he came home from work. 

Switching out electrical boxes was the hardest part. It seemed to take ages. I made a colossal mess of the floor while cutting a new hole in the ceiling. The large medallion we got barely covers it. 

Hanging the fan itself wasn't a problem. Assembling the remaining pieces after hanging it (per the fan's instructions) wasn't bad, either.  I dropped screws at every stage, which was annoying, but not a big deal. 

Installation complete, I turned the power back on, then proceeded to the last step: flip the switch and pair the fan with its remote. I flicked the switch. The lights in the kitchen (and all else on the breaker) turned off. I reset the breaker, then tried again. Same result. I did something wrong with the wiring. Fuck. 

I'll have to take the fan apart in reverse order and redo the wiring. Ugh. 

It looks pretty, at least. 

I did finish before Kevin came home. He hadn't believed that I could hang that myself. Not that he doubts me; he just thought it too heavy for me. 

Fans, at last!

Kevin & I purchased four fans for the house last spring. We have yet to install any. For a while, we'd thought to pay someone; we changed our minds after researching costs of electricians. I then spent many hours reading about electrical wiring, and watching YouTube tutorials until I felt confident we could conquer our electrical projects. 

We *did* complete one (two-part) project: we changed out the pendant lamps in the kitchen, and installed dimmers both for those and for some other kitchen lights. (Those projects predate me; Kevin had them on his list since he bought the house in 2010.) We just *knew* we'd install the fans next. We didn't. 

That was summer of 2015. Turning off the electricity to do possibly very sweaty work during the heat of the Texas summer put us off completely. 

Today, the weather is lovely. I've already connected the housing for the remote control (including the appropriate wiring) to the bedroom fan. We have a brace to place between the joists and (at last!) a ladder borrowed from friends. (I tend to forget that our lack of a ladder was also a great impediment to fan project completion.) Eh, so we're ready. 

These are the pendants we hung (fan parts litter the island; do forgive the mess.) 

These are pieces of the living room fan, and the ugly fixture currently hanging in its place. 

http://m.lowes.com/pd/Harbor-Breeze-Platinum-Santa-Ana-48-in-Brushed-Nickel-Downrod-Mount-Indoor-Ceiling-Fan-with-Light-Kit-and-Remote-2-Blade/50057291

This is our lovely bedroom fan:

The lights are on the inside, a circle of light surrounding the fan. Funny, when we bought it, it was on super-sale because it was said to be discontinued. Now I find that Lowe's still sells it. I'm glad we got it for less than retail. http://m.lowes.com/pd/allen--roth-Eastview-23-in-Aged-Bronze-Downrod-Mount-Indoor-Ceiling-Fan-with-Light-Kit-and-Remote-3-Blade/3281038

And here is where it shall go. 

Once I post this, it will be time to open the blinds & curtains to let the light in, and turn off the electricity! 

I'll update with pictures of the finished project later (and tales of any mishaps that might occur, though let's hope they don't!).

Giant yarn blanket

I love love love this blanket. It took me far longer to make than it should have, but only because I kept taking it apart to start over again. The yarn is hand-spun, I dyed merino wool from a farm in Indiana; I ordered it on etsy. They're called Colorways. It feels AMAZING. 

As previously mentioned, I don't always finish my projects (blame my ADD - I start a different project, or simply get distracted). The knitting is complete, but the ends have not been woven in (in this picture). Nor has it yet been blocked. I love it all the same. It is very warm an snugly. 

The blanket is made of giant yarn, using 150 gauge needles. The blanket itself is not giant, but it's fine for five foot two me. 

I'd love to make a huge blanket in this material, but that's a bit in the future. This blanket took five skeins (1lb each) that sell for $39/skein. (I paid $135 for the yarn & needles in a kit.) I'm not in a hurry to shell out $300 for that extravagant yarn. 

That's my baby, Annie, in the background. And you can see one of the 150 gauge needles next to my tiny hand. 

Annie loves making biscuits on this blanket. 

A hat for Laura

I knitted this hat for my sister, Laura. It was the first hat I had knitted in years. I liked the pattern so well that I knitted another for my mother (in a different yarn), and one for my friend, Avi. Mum and Laura like theirs. Avi liked the one I made for Mum, but I've yet to give hers to her. Soon...

I rather like hats. I'm not the best at completing projects; hats are small and easy to finish. I plan to learn to knit socks soon. 

This is Laura's hat. 

This one is Avi's hat. I altered the pattern's embellishment; I wasn't fond of it. I improvised the replacement. I forgot to snap a shot of Mum's hat. I'll take a picture of her wearing it and post it later. 

This blog shall be renamed, some time

I've decided to use this blog. The testing stuff was just - well, it was a test for some unrelated project. 

I shall not likely be talking about my life. I'm going to post about my cats, of course, and things I've made or done, or found interesting. And, of course, I can then share them on Pinterest. 

 

So that's all there is, for now. Posting from my phone, I cannot seem to edit the layout or change the name. When I feel like getting on to my computer again, I shall do both of those things. But not now. 

just first

This is just a test of the new blog to check some shit I want to see that no one else cares about.