"Love the Process" - SaFire's Hooping Manifesto (Song: Taio Cruz - I Can...

Love this little video.. it's about learning and enjoying the process and not giving up too easily. Oh and hula hooping. But mostly it's about learning...and applies to just about everything!

Let's see...I can make it go around my waist...yea!!! :D

How to Make a Hula Hoop

 

Last night we made our own hula hoops! I've been wanting to try this ever since seeing how much easier it looks to hoop with one of these large hoops....the ones you buy at the dime store are just too small for grown ups. They turned out to be very easy to make and to use! And ...whew! You can get a pretty good workout hula hooping! So here's how to make a hula hoop:

 Label from the couplings-------label from the Sil-O-Flex tubing

I bought some 3/4 inch irrigation tubing in the plumbing department at Lowes. It's the 160 psi, and seems to be a nice weight for hula hoops. Not too heavy, and not too bendy. I bought a roll of 100 feet for 25 dollars. We made 4 hoops last night and probably have enough left for four or five more.

 

In this photo I'm figuring out how big to make the hoop. They say when the hoop rests on the ground it should come somewhere from your belly button to your chest....the larger the hoop, the easier it is to use. Since I'm a beginner, I'm making mine chest high.

 I got these nifty cutters at Lowes too...but you could use a saw. This tool is  made to cut this type of pipe and is sold right next to the pipe. It cut through the pipe like a hot knife through butter!

 The connectors are sold next to the pipe too...just get the same size as your pipe (3/4 inch). I think they are called couplers.

 Dip the end of your hoop into boiling water for about 20-30 seconds....

 And then slip the coupler into the softened pipe...be careful...it's hot! Do the same with the other end, so that you have a hoop! When it cools it will be a nice tight join. If you want you can put a little duct or gaffer's tape around the join...I did.

 Here I'm wrapping the hoop with some gaffer's tape. This tape has a texture to it that gives the hoop a little grip. You do not have to use gaffer's tape, but I had some because I sometimes use it to reinforce the bindings of my journals and books. The only color I've ever seen in a store around here is black, but you can get it in all kinds of cool colors. A good place to get tape is hooptape.com. I just used what I had.

 Here I'm adding some electrical tape to make it pretty. I picked up several different colors at Lowes. The electrical tape is easy to use because it's stretchy.

Here's a couple of videos for you. The first one is my sister trying out a hoop we just made for her. The second one is an instructional video of a good hooper teaching some moves...you can find lots of videos teaching you how to do all kinds of hula hoop moves on youtube.

 

 

How to Workout with a Hula Hoop -- powered by eHow.com

Valentine's Day....or month?

I've been playing with paper...lovely, lovely paper. I got this collection of scrapbooking paper at Michael's and it's so rich looking. I punched out a bunch of hearts and ran them through the sewing machine and will probably hang them in a window of a room at the shop. I'll post a pic when I get them up. And then I think I will have to declare Valentine's Day to be for the whole month of February so I can enjoy them for a while.

Gift Idea....Spineless Classics

Do you know a bookworm who is hard to shop for? Instead of a gift card at the bookstore, one of these might be the answer! I found these prints online at Spineless Classics, and I think they are such a neat idea. So I thought I'd share it with you. The entire text of the book is printed on heavy stock....and the print is readable with the naked eye.

This would be perfect for my Jane Austen-loving sister.

It's a little late for this Christmas, but it's an idea to keep in mind for future gifts. Another "why didn't I think of that?" idea!

Baby Time and Baking Time...Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These are just some random shots from the weekend...I went to my sister and brother-in-law's house to see their new grandbaby. We were overtaken by an urge to bake Christmas cookies. These are Chocolate Crinkle Cookies...so yummy.

Holly and Nicole baking.

Holly wondered aloud if she had the cookies rolled out to l2 inches and her engineer hubby stepped in to check it out.

Little Avery was not put down once during the weekend.

Aunt Nicole is pretty smitten with her I think.

 

We noticed that Hawkeye and Dad are starting to look alike...they may be spending too much time together!

Four generations of Harbin girls.

And finally I leave you with two beautiful photos my brother-in-law took:

Lamb's Lace Cardigan

This is the first sweater I've ever knitted, and I'm pretty pleased because it turned out wearable! It's the Lamb's Lace Cardi pattern available on Ravelry. If I had it to do over, I'd make a couple of changes to make it fit a little closer across the back, but all in all I'm happy with it. I finished this a couple of months ago, but it took a while for me to get a pic....and even now, it's a headless one! Oh well, that's what you get when you are shooting yourself.

Knitted Fish Scarf

It's a fun pattern to knit up and goes pretty fast since I used a size 6 needle instead of the 2s I use when I knit socks. The info on the pattern is here. The yarn is actually a little greener than it looks here...with lots of blues  mixed in...pretty!

And here's one of me wearing it. I made it 11 repeats instead of the 9 called for, to make it a little longer. Please excuse the foggy mirror...it's an oldie, and we all get a little foggier with age.