Happy Thanksgiving!

Poppy and Ijust wanted to wish you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Enjoy yourself today and don't forget to tell those you love how thankful you are for them!

That being said, I just want to thank you all for visiting my little corner of the internets here in Superstarra-ville. I appreciate all your comments and suggestions and love!

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving!

Halloween Week: Glow In The Dark

Hey everyone!

It's all me today as Christie is busy gnashing her teeth and lamenting the fact that it was a year ago today that we were on our way to Paris.

Ah Paris! But on to the subject at hand.

As crafters, I thought it would be fun to present something that might inspire your creativity this Halloween.

That thing is Bernat's Glow in the dark yarn.
This yarn first entered Christie's radar when she saw a post on Jennifer's blog. Looked pretty interesting, so we picked up two skeins on our last trip to Michael's [BTW: it's on sale for $2].

The yarn comes in a few colors, including white, pink and yellow. We didn't have a definite idea of what to make with it, so we chose white.

I had an idea to make an accessory for each of her niece's Halloween costumes [one is dressing as a witch and the other a cat...the new baby is a pumpkin, of course]. It would be good for at least 10 minutes of entertainment. Here's what she came up with.

Yes. A round ball. I guess it could work for the cat.

To make the ball, Christie crocheted a doll head from one of the Owlishy patterns. Pretty easy. Although going down a crochet hook size would have been a good idea as the fabric isn't as dense as I would have liked. But she never listens to me.

So you're wondering what she did with it, right? It can't be as lame as a glow in the dark ball.

Right?

Of course not! Last night, she grabbed some black embroidery thread and got to work. She sewed little faces on the white balls to transform them into shrunken heads to go along with the witch costume. Pretty funny. For the hair, she found scraps of different gauge and texture yarn, threaded it through to create a hairline and tied it up in a top knot. The other head shall remain bald.

The string they are hanging from will be braided so that it can be tied to her niece's costume and to keep it from getting tangled. She plans on making two glow in the dark mice to go along with the kitty costume.

Pretty clever!

In case you were wondering what they look like glowing. Here's an idea. We weren't able to expose them to really bright light, unfortunately, but at least they glow!

Halloween Week: Costumes

Thankfully, Christie was in a rush this morning and forgot to pack a lame costume for me to wear. I dodged a bullet right there.

Speaking of costumes, Christie had a female friend give her a call yesterday lamenting about how searching for a Halloween costume was the equivalent of her own personal 7th ring of hell. She said everything was slutty and she didn't want to be slutty!

She didn't have much in her wardrobe to work with, but wanted something that would be fun and easy. No fuss, no muss.

I'm sure you've all had issues with finding the right costume. I thought I might give you a few tips on finding something that will work and express your own personal style.

1. Look in your own backyard. Try to build an outfit from clothes you already own. A sweater set with a pencil skirt and some red lipstick is perfect for a 50's bad girl costume. Put on some khakis, a polo shirt and a sweater thrown around your shoulders and your an 80's trust fund baby. The possibilities are endless!
   
2. Enlist your friends. We all have that one creative friend who loves to play dress up. Ask them to go shopping with you or if they are your size, ask if they have an outfit they can spare for the evening. You know they will come up with the perfect idea for you.
3. Make-up goes a long way. Get some old clothes you're getting rid of, some pale make-up and fake blood and dress as a zombie! And Google can help with make-up application ideas.
4. Accessories go an even longer way. Costume jewelry and wigs go a long way in making a costume look good. Thrift stores tend to have lots of plastic bangles and beads and necklaces, so that's a great place to start and many box stores stock inexpensive hairpieces this time of year. Also scarves, tights, legwarmers, gloves...almost anything up to and including the kitchen sink can be the perfect accent to a Halloween costume.
   
5. Know your current events. Put on your best suit, some glasses and throw your hair in an updo...you're Sarah Palin...or put on a flannel and use some red lipliner to draw a backward B on your cheek. Knowing what's going on in the world often makes the funniest costumes.

I hope this gets you started on your path to finding the perfect Halloween costume. Your creativity is limitless! Just use a little imagination!

Oh, I also thought you might like to see a picture of the Funkin all lit up. Looks pretty cool, huh?

Halloween Week: Funkins

Hey y'all! Before we get to today's Halloween Week installment, I'd like to answer a question from one of my legions of fans. Ms. UbranKnitrix [with Flava] submitted this question: Since Christie got to dress you as Zero, what would you dress Christie as if you could?

Hmmm. That's a good one. I would have to think of something that would be embarrassing to her. Something she'd hate. Condeleezza Rice comes to mind. Complete with helmet hair flip, scowl and unflattering pantsuit. Either that or Gayle King. HAHAH AHAHAAA! Why do all my costume ideas for Christie involve bad wigs?

Thanks for the question. Send me your address and I'll get a little Halloween treat out to you.

Today's Halloween Week topic is Funkins. Funkins are carvable foam pumpkins. I was a little skeptical, but we gave it a chance. Let's look at the pros and cons of using Funkins rather than real pumpkins.

On the plus side, these are hollow, lightweight and very easy to carve [Christie used a regular paring knife]. There's no pumpkin innards to clean up, but there are bits and pieces of foam which can easily be vacuumed up. Since it's foam it won't rot so you can store it after Halloween and reuse [good for people who want to decorate with out the hassle of carving a pumpkin every year]. Christie used a pencil to draw her Jack Skellington face and any mistakes were erased very easily. The best feature of all, it looks like a real pumpkin.

The cons of using foam rather than a real pumpkin are few, but very important. First off waste. You can compost a real pumpkin, which is good for the environment and your garden. Also, funkins cannot be exposed to fire..so no lit candles on the inside. Funkins won't give you pumpkin seeds, which is a tragedy in itself. And lastly, tradition. If you do have kids, it's fun to make a special trip to the pumpkin patch, choose the perfect gourd and to carve it...annual family togetherness, people!

So, as you can see, there are a lot of good points to both. It really is just a matter of what your looking for in your Halloween decorations.

And for those of you looking for something crafty, here's Christie with a fun pattern!
Backstory
Pattern: Zero the Ghost Dog
Yarn: Bits and pieces of 100% acrylic yarn in off white and orange. Black cording for eyes, mouth and nose.
Hook: Size E
Exposition: We're having a Funkin carving contest here at work and I wanted to add something knit or crochet to my entry. This is what I came up with.

I followed the instructions for the head, but deviated for the body. The original pattern didn't have ears so I made them up. Really rough instructions for both are on my Rav page. I love how his jack-o-lantern nose came out, but I think there's room for improvement on Zero's eyes.

His ears were curling pretty badly, so I ran some thin craft wire along the length so I could add the appropriate airiness to them. I also threaded the wire along the length of his 'legs' so that I could attach Zero to the Funkin and give him the appearance of floating.

If you don't crochet, there is a knitted Zero pattern here.

I'm not sure if I'll win, but I think it's pretty damn cute!

See you tomorrow everyone!

Halloween Week

Happy Halloween week everyone!

Here in in the 'ville, the Halloween season usually comes and goes without much of a peep. This year, however, we've decided to dedicate this weeks' posts to the spirit and fun of Halloween.

Our Halloween features will be hosted by your favorite ghoulish gal and mine...

Miss Poppy Sassypants!

Hi Everyone and Happy Halloween week t'ya!

As you can see, my co-hostess thought it would be funny to dress me up as Zero the Ghostdog from The Nightmare Before Christmas. I just have to ask, 'Who is the dog in this scenario?' Anyway, we are flying by the seat of our pants on this one, but if it goes well, we might make it a regular holiday feature. Can't you just see me dressed up like a tree for Arbor Day? Yeah. Anyway, I look forward to actually being on the blog this week and if you have any Halloween questions or suggestions, please feel free to fill up the comments section. Now back to Christie and her regularly scheduled post...


I couldn't help it. She just looks so cute in that costume.

Anyway. At the end of last week, I was trying to decide what to knit next [moss stitch sleeve, cabled collar or allow myself to be distracted by something else]. Well, Gf's birthday was yesterday and on Friday evening I foolishly thought that I could get the sleeve of the Habu sweater finished, get the whole thing seamed, buttons on, lightly felted and presented to her. Just didn't happen. I was able to get quite a bit done on the sleeve, but I'm far from finished. My new goal is to have it finished by the end of the week. I think it's do-able. Keep your fingers crossed!