Roses Are Blue...

Hooah Hoop!

I know how it looks but I promise you that this Christmas was not all about Willa.  I am reasonably sure there were some other people around here that day...but don't ask me to name names or produce photos (I have a bunch more of Willa though if anyone is interested!) 

Anyway.  Moving on.  I think the most fun presents I made this Christmas were the hula hoops.  And the most fun hula hoop was the tiny-sparkling-glittery-pink-and-black hula hoop that I made for Willa.  I have to say her reaction to the little hoop totally made up for her reaction to the pony jacket...

Willa would stand in the middle of her hoop and put her arms up and say "Hoop?  Hooah hoop?  Kahwaa?  Hoop?"  Then she'd stand there laughing and smiling while I spun it around her over and over and over (and over and over...)  As soon as it hit the floor she'd say, "again."  And I'd say, "again, pleeeeease?"  And she'd say, "again, pees."  And on and on it went.  Until one of us got tired of it.

Yeah, ok, until I got tired of it.

While (in another spectacular rookie move) I failed to take photos of the all of the Christmas hoops alone under the tree, I did manage to get a few shots with the hoops in the background.  This shot has some kid in it but you can see a few of the hoops back there shimmering in the tree lights...aren't they pretty?  Oh, I'm kidding.  This adorable elf is my nephew, Lowell, hamming it up for the camera.  All I can say without getting myself in trouble is that he comes by his hamming honestly.  But holy cow, could he be any cuter?

"Obsessed" is a strong word...

With all of my hoop talk lately, my friend, Pam, coined a new nickname for me: The Happy Hooper.  Cute, no?  Well, I liked it so much I decided to draw it up and make a shirt out of it.  This Happy Hooper (clearly not modeled after me if you know me) is supposed to look like a retro pin-up girl (which is um, NOT my body type no matter how much padding I use...)  She is done almost exclusively in the stem stitch.  I have a few other versions of her that I like as well so I am working on some embroidery patterns/kits/shirts for the shop.  They should be ready in the next couple of weeks...assuming I can stop hooping long enough to work on them...I'll keep you posted.

Hoopgirl wanna-be!

How this came about is kind of a long story but the result is the same: I made hula hoops!  I know what you're thinking.  What?  Hula hoops are an element.  They just exist.  Like oxygen or marshmallows, they can't be made...right?  Wrong!  They can!  And it is super easy (mostly).  The great thing is that the homemade hoops are strong and heavy, which makes hooping (or learning to hoop) so much easier.  You can see the size differences in the photo.  The littlest one is from the store and the fat 1" um, well-taped hoop in the picture is one I bought from my hula hoop teacher (I did mention it was a long story, remember?) 

There is a really good tutorial here but I made mine a little differently since I had a hard time finding the right size irrigation line and I was too impatient to wait.  Instead of the black irrigation tubing in the tutorial, I used 3/4" flexible white PVC (in the plumbing department) which came in a 25 ft roll for about $15.  It made two perfect sized hoops with just a small scrap leftover (that my boys take turns beating each other with.  See?  Hooping is fun for the whole family!)  Then, instead of using 3/4" couplers (same as the pipe) like the tut says, I connected mine with 1/2" couplers which didn't require any heating, just a really strong grip to push them together.  I also duct taped the connection, like in the tut, for a little added strength.  The writing on the PVC pipe comes off (mostly) with rubbing alcohol but you can leave it if you are adding lots of tape.  Speaking of tape, check out this video before you start.  Who knew taping a hoop was such an involved process?!  I sure didn't.  Which explains my taping job...  Anyway, once your hoops are ready check this page for links to just about everything you ever wanted to know about hula hoops (including hooping tutorials) and get going!