And that's all my phone has to say about that...

 Typical morning view:

"Good. I have woken you. Now feed me or I'll start purring incessantly and biting your eyebrows."

 

 some good stuff right there ^^

 

 First ever attempt at making scones. Strawberry with a strawberry and lemon glaze. They tasted like freckled lemonade from Red Robin!!

 

 We bought this cat bed when we first moved here in December. He refused to have anything to do with it until about March. Now he would rather sleep in this than anywhere else. Sometimes he picks it over sleeping with us!

 

 large rock by our front door.

 

 I've become an addict.

 

 Made a trip to the library on base yesterday; it made me happy.

 



 Being unemployed is pretty disheartening. However, reading books in your back yard and laying in the sun all afternoon is pretty darn fabulous.

 

 Everything a cat could want, all in one spot: a cozy bed, a sliding door to look out of, a shoe box full of mousies and jingly things, and a box fort.

 

 this made me laugh. JoJo and I attempted to feed some ducks stale crackers a few weeks ago down at the lake near our house. this sign appeared shortly there after. It is funny because the birds had never been offered crackers and had no idea what to do with them. out of probably 40 ducks we got 2 interested. And a squirrel.

 

 The weather has been weird. Monday it was barely 50. By Thursday it hit near 70.  I've been determined to enjoy the sun (cloudlessness) regardless. Coats and sunglasses combined.

 

 Little signs of life along my walks.

 

LOTS of signs of life in my garden!! I've got foot tall sugar peas, sprouting green beans and little baby spinaches, lettuces, cilantros, and basils. Parsley and Lavender hopefully making an appearance soon. Tomatoes next month! I'M A REAL FARMER!!!!



Bella's Custom Animal Hats on Facebook

...because all forms of advertising now somehow end up being by way of social media...

https://www.facebook.com/BellasAnimalHats

Long story short: 

I make hats. And those hats now have a Facebook page.

PS: Hats like orders. And people you know/you like hats for Christmas.

Check out the page for options and details!

It's that time of year- CUSTOM KNITS AND CROCHETS!

Hey everyone. I generally try and avoid posts like this on my blog, but now that I am no longer trying to run an etsy and am only doing custom orders (and am a broke college student who drives a gas guzzling SUV)  I wanted to do a post about cozy knitted and crocheted items I would happily custom make for anyone who is interested!

Crocheted Animal Ear Flap Hats! 

I can do whatever sort of eared animal you desire, with or without felt/button faces. Or simply a ear flap hat, sans animal characteristics if you would prefer. Adult or child sized.

Below are a panda, fox and a sock monkey.

Knit or crocheted BEANIES and BERETS! 

Any size! Any color combo!

KNIT HAND WARMERS/FINGERLESS GLOVES

 These are great alone, or layered over fingered gloves. I have only made adult sizes, but I would be able to alter the pattern to a child's size. You pick your colors! (Perhaps to match your favorite coat. Or a fabulous above pictured custom hat!?)

And these aren't wearable really, but are equally as cozy...

 Crocheted AMIGURUMI STUFFED ANIMALS!

Pretty much any animal, in colors of your choice.

I've done bears, dogs, cats, bunnies, elephants, turtles, pigs, birds, pandas...

Usually around 8-12 inches in height.

Fun stuff, eh? Great for fall. Wonderful for winter. Also, all of these things make great gifts!

Comment, or send me an email at call(DOT)me(DOT)ardent(AT)gmail(DOT)com if you are interested in discussing a custom order or pricings! Thanks everyone!

Avi was a little girl...

My littlest sister LOVES books. This kid (as I frequently tell you) is amazing. Her favorite book, titled "A Mother for Choco" is a story (with an adoption theme) about a lonely little bird named Choco. He looks different from all other animals and he can't find himself a mother who looks just like him. In the end Choco is adopted by a mother bear. It's pretty cute.

But what is REALLY cute is my sister has the entire book memorized. And when I say memorized I mean MEMORIZED.

She cannot actually read yet, but it you hand her that book she will be begin at the title page ("A Mother for Choco" By: Keiko Kasza) and work page by page, word for word (and there are like 3 sentences to a page) up until the very end. 

"Choco was a little bird who lived all alone. He wished he had a mother; but who could his mother be? One day he set off to find her..."

I'm telling you, she has it DOWN. At first we were doubtful, but then we realized she didn't even need the book or the pictures to tell the story. Any one of the people in our family can say, anywhere, anytime, "Choco was..." and she'll recite us the whole book. The child is a freak. And I love her.

Yesterday was her third birthday. She is a special little girl who deserved a very special present. I, being the creative chick that I am, thought it would be fun to make her an amigurumi (crocheted) Choco. I made very sure to copy him as best as I could. the book very specifically mentions that he is yellow, has stripey legs, wings and big round cheeks. I gave him all those things. I was rather interested to see if she would recognize him out of his book context and made of yarn.

 I hand her the gift bag. She pulls out my creation and instantly, with no hesitation whatsoever, exclaims "HIS NAME IS CHOCO!"

Needless to say, I was thrilled. I had successfully created her favorite story character in such a way that she found him recognizable. She also said it was her favorite birthday gift. Major points to big sister Bella!

Is FOXY the right word to use here?

 I don't know if you remember but... I LOVE FOXES. I am not really sure why, but I do. Maybe it is because they are catish and doggish. Maybe because they are orangey red. Maybe it is because I like how they prance with their little black legs. Maybe because they are cute. I dunno. But I like them and would keep one (or more) as pets if that were an option (and IF I did have foxes the girl would be named Aubergine and the boy would be Lucius. In case you wanted to know...) I also would rather like to be a fox so...

I made this! A ear-flap fox hat!

Recently I have been seeing lots of animal/monster ear flap hats on blogs/etsys and what not. I really wanted to make some, starting with a fox, but I couldn't find a pattern that fit what I wanted it to look like. So I looked through a bunch of random ones, meshed them together in my head, and on Thursday I made my own version of a foxy hat!

 I'm super happy with how it came out and it was quite easy to make. My little sister was a tad jealous of mine (the girl likes anything with pom-poms/puff-puffs) so now I am making her a bear hat (a panda, as per her request) and I think I am going to sew felt eyes and a nose onto the front of it. Pictures to come, I promise!

I am thinking the possibilities with these would be almost endless. This is almost like a personal amigurumi on MY HEAD! Anybody else want one? I can alter my crocheted pattern into any size and a good variety of animals (cats, bears, bunnies, most things with ears...faces too if you like that!). Similar patterns on etsy go for around $20-$25. Let me know in the comment section if your interested! I am always happy to do customs!

 There is just something fun about having an extra set of ears atop your head. And pom-poms dangling down from the sides. Those things makes me incredibly happy...

Granny that I am...

I have a new project.

Last time I went to my grandparent's farm I posted a bunch of pictures, and mentioned at the bottom of the post that my Grammie taught me how to crochet granny squares. True story.

Since then, me and my obsessive complusive/fixated personality have been on a mission. I, Isabella Kiss, though I be not a grandmother, and going to make a blanket!

Inspirations:

Since that time (2 weeks ago) I have been spending my late evenings crocheting. And I have now made 80 Granny Wee Squares (I like my name for them better.) I am over half way. I figure I need about 144 to make a decent size blanket.

I am using a size F crochet hook and bunches and bunches of scrap acrylic yarns left over from my other various projects.

 My insanely organized box of scrap yarns. Used to be a lot fuller...

There are LOTS of ways to make granny squares, but I am doing it the way my Grammie taught me {Ps: if you want to know what that way is, message/comment me. I will let you know. If I put it in this blog post a good many of people will be bored.} She is a pro blanket maker. All the grand-kids have them, she gives them to people as gifts, she has even sold some, so she knows what she is talking about. Actually, she is the only reason I know how to knit/crochet in the first place. She taught me to knit when I was about 7, but it wasn't up until about 2 years ago that I really got into it. She also taught me to crochet...around 8... but I HATTTTEEEEDDD it and was a total failure beyond a basic chain up until this year when I randomly taught myself to make Amigurumi.

Anyway, I like it now.

Exhibit A, my Grammie's work:

Exhibit B, MY work:

My first square!

The little table in my bedroom has be utterly OVERTAKEN with color categorized WEE SQUARES!

An so the project continues on...

My hope is to have the blanket (or technically "afghan," but I don't like the sound of that word so, it is a BLANKET) done by the end of the year. I still have a bunch of squares to make, then I have to sew in all the yarn tails, and then I have to border the edges in black. I've yet to decide if I am going to crochet it all together in black, or it I will contrast it with white. Or another color. I'll worry about that when I get there.

I'm excited. It will be quite the accomplishment. I'll have a amazingly colorful blanket and...I think I can be certified as a grandma or something...? Joshing, I'm just joshing. Although, I did run around for a while shrieking "IMMA REAL GRANNY!" (think Pinocchio in Shriek when he yells "Imma real boy!" I do a GOOD Pinocchio impression...)  

But grandma or not, I like the artfulness of it all. I enjoy making them (I love repetition), any project that lets me combine colors is fun, and I enjoy that each one I make is different. So, if you want to call me Granny Isabella, that is fine by me. I am having fun and I'll have a cool blanket and you won't so...whatever. :)

***Pictures of the FINAL result to come!!!! Just give me another month or so!