A Hot Air Balloon and a Lightsaber Sounds Like a Bad Combo...

Last week, Spousal Unit and I were on our flying carpet of a porch when we saw something unusual in the sky. It wasn't a bird, or a plane. (And who gets excited about those, anyway?)

I'm pretty proud of myself for getting a pic of the hot air balloon while it was gassing up.

I'm also proud of myself for knitting a lightsaber.

I found a picture of Darth Vader's and replicated it almost exactly - not an easy feat, and I did it all without a pattern. Above, I was using three balls of yarn at once, for the angular end of the handle. It got pretty tangly.

I think I did really well for such a self-invented project. The saber itself was made of Fun Fur, the black yarn was Caron, and the silver was Vanna's Glamour, double stranded. I made the black parts  bulge by running the yarn behind it very tightly, and then stuffing between the back strands as I went along.

You may notice the white thing sticking out of the first lightsaber picture. It's from our blinds - I accidentally broke them, and the thing that opens the slats was perfect to reinforce my project. Unfortunately, that means I'll have to break another set to make another lightsaber. I still think a dowel rod would have been too hard, but the plastic thing makes it less painful for the person getting stabbed.

Speaking of which: Stephanie, I meant to apologize to you for this thing being in your home now...