craftmas, General Sewing, Uncategorized

On the second day of Craftmas…

…my true love gave to me: ein Schal für Schnuckiputzi!

Last year, I cross-stitched Berlin as a Christmas gift for my friend of German descent, which felt like it took more or less forever. This year, I opted for something less ambitious but far more pragmatic: a double-layer fleece scarf, in the colours of the German flag, perfect for warding off the frigid Prairie air.

I used this tutorial, which I also used a few years back to make a scarf for my dad, so I already had a pretty good idea of what I was doing. (That never happens!) I found the fleece at a good price back in the summer when, ahem, the eventual recipient happened to be with me.

HIM: What are you going to do with the fleece?

ME: Oh, remember those Star Trek stockings I made? I want to make more. I’ve already got Spock blue at home.

Good excuse, right? Fast-forward to the cutting table.

OVERLY OBSERVANT FABRIC STORE EMPLOYEE: Looks like you’re making a German flag.

ME: Um, no. Star Trek stockings.

OVERLY OBSERVANT FABRIC STORE EMPLOYEE: So where’s the blue?

Much measuring, cutting, and sewing later, I had this:

My model is in the Witness Protection Program. 😉

Actually, I’m lucky I was able to take it off long enough to have her model it for me – it’s soooo warm and snuggly!

It’s nice and long, so he’ll be able to wrap it around and make sure he’s covered. Perfect for those early-morning waits for the bus!

Thanks for looking! 🙂

Uncategorized

10-Year Anniversary

Ten years ago today, I basically went, “Hey, I made something!” and hit Publish for the very first time.  Nothing like hitting any sort of double-digit anniversary to make you feel old, eh?  😉  In honour of this momentous occasion, I present:

Ten Fun* Facts About The Witty Child

  1. The blog name comes from a Humbert Humbert quote: “Now I do hope that’s all, you witty child.”  Hardly à propos for a cooking/crafting-type blog, but when I first started it, I didn’t really have a long-term plan, and it seemed like a good idea.  Famous last words…
  2. That having been said, I have no plans to change it after all this time.  It’s kind of my thing, now.
  3. I show my inner Bob Belcher, only instead of punny burger names, it’s pop-culturey blog post titles.  I’m always a little disappointed in myself when a title is plainly descriptive.
  4. Sometimes I’m a little too punny/witty for my own good.  Case in point: in my list of blog posts, I kept seeing one called “Tin Roof, Rusted”.  I knew immediately what song the line was from, but couldn’t remember doing anything remotely resembling a love shack (I don’t think there’s any interior decorating on here…yet).  It turns out (spoiler alert, if you haven’t read it!) that I had completed a sewing project dubbed “Love Elephant” by its designer.  That morphed into “Love Pachyderm” and eventually “Love Pach”.
  5. There’s clearly a frustrated writer in my somewhere, because usually as soon as I start a craft project or see a recipe I want to make, I start mentally composing a post title if not the actual post.
  6. This is especially true for my Craftmas posts, and it’s not uncommon for me to pick up a notebook on my breaks at work and start writing out a post longhand, to be edited and typed later.  And for those of you who are curious, that’s exactly how this post came to be.
  7. I do not get social media.  I do have an account on Instagram that was a tie-in to my now-defunct Etsy shop, but ever since I stopped selling, I can’t be bothered to play the IG game.  What you see on this blog are original posts, not cross-posted to five different platforms (excepting, perhaps, Craftster).  Also, I will not take a post from five years ago and give it today’s date when I can’t come up with any actual new content.  (Seriously, why even bother?)  I hate when blogs do this, and the dates on the comments give it away every.  Single.  Time.
  8. When not crafting, blogging, or complaining about these whippersnappers and their social media, I’m an avid reader, and compile my finishes on Goodreads.  It’s not always highbrow, but I’ve made peace with that.
  9. I don’t bake as often as I used to.  Whether this is due to a greater awareness of sugar consumption, changing jobs and not having the same peanut gallery, or simple sloth, I’m not sure.  Sifting through my archives was like, “cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes”, but lately?  Not so much.  I’ll have to work on that.
  10. Normally, I don’t believe in amending old blog posts save for small spelling corrections – I prefer to leave them as-is, like a digital time capsule.  One notable exception: I changed a post title that joked about Bill Cosby.  It was originally written back when he was just America’s Dad and not a convicted sexual predator, but…I just couldn’t leave it.  I like the new title much better, anyway.

Fighting the urge to become sentimental and self-aggrandizing, I’ll leave it at this.  Thank you for looking, and if you like what you see: awesome! 🙂

(*not really)