I am not Michael Jackson and the glove is not white. Oh, and there's no glitter.
But let's start in my childhood. I can hear you yell "not a-NOTHER childhood story", but sorry, it's part of the glove's story.
In Germany there is a game called "Fang den Hut", in English called "Coppit", according to Wikipedia.
I used to play it at my grandparent's house, with my friends, but more fun than actually playing the game was putting the little hats on our fingers and pretend we were witches. Of course my favorite hat was the golden one. Today when I have long finger nails I still do the same, wiggling my fingers around.
I also remember a Swedish book in which one of the guys ate some kind of berries of his girlfriend's fingers.
After I had started crocheting with wire, it had taken a while before I discovered tubes. I tried to make bird cages that didn't turn out quite right, but they ended up on my fingers a lot while making them, just like the little hats in my childhood. I even thought about what wire gauge and what size hook I might have to use to make myself a thimble. It would hardly have made any sense with all the holes in wire crochet, don't you think?
The thought of covering my fingers somehow didn't go away, though. It was there when I made my larger tube necklaces and after a few people said that sometimes the crochet reminded them of chain maille, like on my Joan of Arc ring for example, the idea grew from a pure thimble to a glove.
I finally did it. It's not perfect, mind you, but for a first attempt I'm pretty happy with it!
My fingers are not. One should think they are hardened by now, but this project was just a tad too much for them, I guess.
It's not really a comfortable glove, either, but I think it makes a pretty cool sculpture ;-)
It's a little like those wire mesh "sculptures" used in furniture stores here to show off clothes hangers and stuff. Of course they are cut out of machine-knitted mesh and molded into shape.
I think I like mine better! :-P
Ignore the cat behind the curtain .... ignore the cat behind the curtain ...
Do you remember last year? The SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway?
Time has flown by. Don't look at the calendar, just look at your screen - cos here it comes, the 2010 SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway! A new charm bracelet, a new chance for you to save AND win!
Last year's bracelet had the subject Christmas. This year we locked ourselves up in a cave in Northern France. Only water and crackers were allowed until ... you don't believe me? Okay, you are right, but it might have been fun. We had a poll and so here it is, this year's prize!
Flowers, in all colors, shapes, made in different techniques, I wish I could play!
Check out the Etsy team shop for all the savings you can get during this sale and giveaway which will be held from the 17th of October until the 28th of November! And check out the team blog for updates. Come and join us, it'll be fun!
I really do love Kevin Kline, no matter if we are talking about "A fish called Wanda" or "The big chill", "In & Out" (just think of that great dance!) or "The January Man" and of course these are just a few.
There are a few favorite quotes as well, many from "A fish called Wanda", but one that I really use a lot is from a different movie.
Kline is at a factory, trying out some huge robot arms. He spreads those arms and says:
"I once caught a fish that was THIS BIG."
What a useful quote. If I can't take quite serious what your counterpart says at the moment or if I want to make clear that I myself am exaggerating at the moment, it always works. Good old fishermen's stories ;-)
And the winner ... eh, the movie is?
Dave, USA, 1993
His name is Teddy. I guess I wasn't very creative at giving names in my childhood, but I don't think Teddy minds. He has never complained and he has been around more than 40 years, in fact all my life. I know, I know, you thought I was 27, but the moment of truth is here ;-)
Back to Teddy. He was made by the company Hermann, he has light brown fur that has been worn down by years of sleeping in my bed and listening to my problems. He had plastic surgery, for example when one of his nose threads came loose. He also needed new pads for feet and hands, but I have a great surgeon in my family and I was a great nurse for him, so he was in the best care.
Actually I only remember one time when he was out of the house. A little girl that had come visiting with her father was so in love with "the talking bear" that he got loaned to her for a few days. I didn't go for the "You are such a big girl now and you want to be nice to her, don't you?". I was p..... ehm, mad. I really was. I didn't want to be a big girl and I didn't want Teddy to be out there without me.
Imagine my shock when he finally was brought back in a plastic bag, upside down! Needless to say Teddy never left me again. Indeed he is watching over my nightstand now, with all its treasures ...
Why am I telling you all that, though?
It's Melissa's fault. Melissa Vess makes lampwork beads (check out her ArtFire studio!), beautiful lampwork beads. I know, I have more than one.
And one has patiently be waiting on my desk for more than one and a half years. From time to time I would take it, have a good look at it and put it back in his little bubble wrap nest. And yesterday I suddenly knew what to do. The answer had been sitting on my nightstand all along!
Little Teddy can move his head, arms and legs. His body, arms and legs are crocheted from a beautiful silver-colored copper wire. Yes, there are differences and this one is really nice.
Now what was the song about the bones -"Toe bone connected to the foot bone. Foot bone connected to the leg bone. Leg bone connected to the knee bone..."
Little Teddy only has three "bones", one going through head and body, one going through shoulders and body and one going through hips and body, they are from silver-plated copper wire.
I need more heads ...............
I have always loved the thought of Halloween. I think the first time I read about it was in the "Mary Poppins" books (that I still love today, that I have in English and German and that I have read probably 100 times).
But Halloween is not a German holiday. It comes from the Celts then living in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Northern France.
In Germany we didn't use pumpkins to scare the ghosts away, but turnips. In some areas people try to revive this old tradition, especially because they find that Halloween that slowly started to conquer Germany as well has become too much of a business. They might be right about that, but I still love it.
I remember my first real Halloween. There used to be an Army post in my hometown and as a teenager I was member of a German-American club called Kontakt. On Halloween our plan was to volunteer taking a group of kids, so their parents could celebrate Halloween on their own. It didn't quite work that way. No kids showed up, so our coordinator decided that we'd walk the housing area on our own, joining in the fun. I remember at least three of us wearing costumes. Kathy was a slick vampire in a suit, her hair combed back with gel, she looked great. Bob wore a Superman outfit, but with an "SK" on his chest for "Super Kontakt"!
And I had been dressed up by my sister as the Bride of Frankenstein. I wore sheets for a tunic, she had put bandages around my arms, put white make-up on my face and red lipstick. Then she backcombed my hair, all the way - I even had long hair then - until it stood up as if I had been electrocuted. (It was such a pain getting the tangles back out the next day!).
We headed for housing. People, believe me, I had so much fun!
I couldn't believe what lengths people had gone to to make this a great Halloween. I remember the big cauldron filled with sweets done in one basement. You walked through all those fake (? ;-)) cobwebs and were greeted by a truly hideous witch cackling in your face.
Or the guy who dragged me onto his lap, crying out "Darling, you DID come back from the dead!" *lol*
We had so much fun that we decided to go out for Chinese food. Remember, this was 1982 or 1983, with no Halloween action throughout the town. I have to say they took it pretty cool when we walked in there in our costumes. A few people got up from their tables, though, to ask us if we came from a masquerade ball and our vampire explained Halloween to them.
Oh dear, the old lady and her memories again, eh? ;-)
There will be more ..... so live in fear, mwahahahaaaaa!
You can't imagine how excited I got when I found this new color at my wire supplier.
You can't imagine how I looked when I found I have no chance with my limited skills to bring across how nice this color looks. In all pictures that I took, it looks, well, indefinite. But it's nice, you'll just have to believe me until my photographing skills develop. You do have time, don't you? :-P
It's called "smoked", by the way.
