www.craftyminx.com is up and running. Please visit me there from now on and set your feed readers to pick up that site instead. I've moved all of the tutorials over for convenience purposes but this site will still be open as an archive of all the old posts.
oh and lookie I haz a button if you want it (please upload to your own servers)
I'm beginning the process of moving this blog over to typepad. I'm trying to decide whether or not to just begin anew or to actually move the posts. I reached one of those defining moments in my life today. You know... one of those "OH MY GOD WHAT AM I DOING?" moments. In the middle of my work day, I chopped up my credit card (I only have one thankfully and I won't tell you how much my balance was, but it was high), wrote out a budget and decided to cancel all of the subscriptions that were subtracting money from my bank account every month. Sadly, this means no more yarn pirate booty club (tears were shed for this one), blockbuster all access pass, and go daddy hosting (that I never even used!). That was about 50 bucks... Then I began thinking... I don't want to cancel my domain name, but I really want to use it. Let's look into type pad and low and behold they have their own hosting. I would be able to save some money and get my domain name to go to my blog without having to deal with blogger anymore! Hell YEAH! So I did it. Hopefully... if I did things right (crosses fingers)... www.craftyminx.com will now take you to www.craftyminx.typepad.com or it will in a day or so. So far from what I've seen, I love the way typepad works! I'll put out an official post when I'm ready for you all to move over with me. Yay I'm excited! Hopefully, this won't be the end of the new me. I need to purge some other things from my life. First, about a third of all the crap I bought with that credit card needs to leave this place. Funny thing is, I rarely use my credit card to buy crafty stuff. I only end up using it for all of those damn shopaholic trips I end up taking to target and the m.a.c. counter. So I may start doing home destashes or something. haha And just because all of this has caused me to keep from doing homework I'll add this... Bella threw up on my bed today and I accidentally laid in it! Yeah gross I know. I hope she is ok, she hasn't been eating very much lately. I think I worry too much about her sometimes.
School is sucking my life away. I may be a little blob of dana goo after this week is over. Needless to say, I won't be blogging much. But If you do feel so inclined to stalk me I now have a plurk account. Please sign up and friend me :) I also sometimes update my twitter at work when I'm bored. Oh and go here to hear bella sound like a baby alien. She is so weird.
I just finished an assignment and decided to celebrate by making a post. :) The parade Friday night was great and I forgot to take my camera so I may add pictures later if I get some from my friend. Bella went with us but only with her rainbow collar because it was just really hot out. There was a pretty good turn out, but not as many people as previous years because it used to be on Sunday afternoons. After the parade we went back to my house to get ready for the craziness that would be at the clubs. And oh my was it CRAZY. So many people were out celebrating! I of course, had to do crazy rainbow make up...
Yeah my boss is awesome and lets Bella come to work when ever she wants to.
And she is so good. She only whines a little bit but then settles in for the long day of work...
And she of course is great for staff morale...
So I decided to make a sweater last minute. But she is so small and I used big needles do I whipped it out in 30 minutes.
It even has a popped collar! haha
If she doesn't win something, I'll cry... I'm such a stage mom.
I just realized that my summer is pretty consumed by "gay" events. Leslie Jordan Pride month/OKC pride events which possibly includes the True Colors tour Kathy Griffin in Dallas Avenue Q in Dallas with my BFF Not to mention every weekend at the gayborhood because those are the greatest bars in OKC Hell I just need a few more musicals and I'll be a full blown gay man by September. And just because I feel the need to clarify... I like boys... and I'm single... so feel free to hook me up with any cute guys older than 23 that you know.
I've made two more skeins of hand spun this week. Both of which I plied (it was scary in the beginning but I figured it out). I still have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm getting a yarn like substance that can be knit, so it works. I'll post pictures eventually... Schoolwork has kind of been kicking my butt. Whoever created summer school was the biggest loser in the entire world. One of the skeins is rainbow... a red, orange and yellow single plied with a blue, green and violet single. I'm calling it my pride inspired yarn. I'm thinking of making Bella a little sweater out of it to wear in the pets with pride show. We'll see if I have time. I could just drape it around her neck like those big collars that everyone is putting on the runway. She is a diva. Our plan is to say that her talent is that everyone automatically falls in love with her. Because they do... I have the cutest dog on the planet. haha
Not only did I spin yarn, but I made things with it! You have no idea how amazed I am by this... really it doesn't take much. I'm easily amused.
Meet Ilean, such a pretty little thing and super fast pattern
Headbands+bangs= total cuteness!
I'm sure you all have become aware that I am very open to different sexual orientations. I'm not going to preach here, but I believe it is important to celebrate diversity. We are all made different for a reason. I am very proud of Oklahoma City's GLBT community, we have around 10 different bars (really... in the center of the bible belt) and a huge pride celebration this month. The list of activities can be found here. I am of course entering bella in the pets with pride pet contest. She doesn't have a talent, but she sure is cute and small and has a rainbow dress. I think that is good enough.
Last night we kicked off the month at the Copa, our favorite place. They had all the rainbows up and tons of people were out. I decorated in my own little way...
There was even a special guest!
That is Leslie Jordan for those of you who can't tell. He was Beverley Leslie on Will and Grace. We are going to his one woman show tonight "My trip down the pink carpet." I am soo excited. I just recently saw Sordid Lives and found him to be thoroughly enjoyable. I guess now I need to go do homework so I can be ready to go see the show :).
* Just saw this and had to add it
Blue moon fiber arts just put up some new colors and one is pride!
So in an attempt to be the craftyminx I am, I bought a spindle at the ren fair in Norman a few months back. The lovely lady at the utilikilts booth sold me one of her personal spindles that she made when I inquired whether they were for sale. I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to spinning, so the first experiment was bad... awful really, I'm not even sure where the "yarn" went and I never even took a picture of it. So I found some roving in the yarn pirate store that caught my eye. I had heard that bfl was the best thing to start with, so I thought I would try it out again. When it got here, I immediately started playing with it. I watched the videos from youtube member theartofmegan for some basic how to help. I found these to be very helpful. I also searched the web and found some written directions on the spin off site, but I really needed videos. I spun for two evenings while watching The Starter Wife online. And this was the result...
I'm waiting for Gypsy's plane to get here. It was supposed to be here at 10:46 but we had storms of death and they had to go down in Dallas. Yeah I was at the airport before I found this one out. The time keeps getting pushed back; 12:45 then 1:31 and now 1:47. I'm am really tired of waiting to see my friend and I know he is cursing all of humanity and God at this point. It really sucks that he won't be here very long. It is kind of a whirlwind trip. He is leaving Saturday morning. We are going out tomorrow night. I am totally excited about that. Yay for bff time!!! Wish me luck, I'm going to have to get up and go to work tomorrow with absolutely no sleep. I should make him get me Starbucks tomorrow. ;)
Kimberly tagged me. It is always great to meet someone new, thanks for de-lurking! What was I doing 10 years ago? I just finished my sophomore year of high school at Classen School of Advanced Studies. I was a vocal music major. I was also working in the book department of Mardel. I hadn't learned to knit yet, but I was doing a lot of decoupage and collage stuff. Five snacks I enjoy: 1. Hummus 2. Fresh baked cookies 3. Tortilla chips and salsa 4. Ice cream 5. Pancakes!!! Five things on my to-do list today: 1. Go to work, maybe put some pants on. 2. Finish reading a chapter for a class. 3. Watch the rest of the Libertine and take it back so I can trade it in for the third disc of big love. 4. Maybe go tone with April 5. Laundry would be a good idea. hmmm Things I would do if I were a billionaire: 1. Buy an old house on Cherry st. and redo it to my hearts desire! 2. Pay off my parents debt. 3. Pay off all my student loans and any other debt I have. 4. Have the ultimate craft room and invite people over to play with me all the time! 5. Give a lot of it away since I have it to give. Five jobs I have had: worked at my dads diner Mardel cashier and book dept worker OBU circ worker MLS tech processor Music Teacher Five of my bad habits: 1. I'm kind of a shopaholic. I buy stuff just for retail therapy and then never know where I lay it. 2. I tend to be selfish, unless I'm with my friends. I will do anything for my friends. 3. I don't like to do the dishes. 4. I throw stuff in the back room to make my living room appear clean when someone comes over. It's kind of sad. 5. I love cooking but hate eating leftovers. Five places I have lived: 1. A house on Tulsa Ave. in OKC 2. A house on Portland Ave. in OKC 3. The dorms at OBU 4. KenDel Manor in Shawnee 5. The apartments I live in now in OKC Five people I want to get to know better (yes, this means you are tagged!) I've been introduced to a few new people this week so I will tag them... Betsy Booms Kyle William rubyredruca meghan and Liesl because I haven't seen much from her in a while. Five random things 1. I am a collector of... aprons, buttons, old knitting and sewing notions, fat quarters, old pyrex, anything awesome and antique. 2. I love gay bars and have never enjoyed a straight bar. Really... they are just so much more fun and gay guys really make me feel much better about myself when they tell me I'm pretty than some straight guy grabbing my ass because he is drunk. 3. I used to be a very good pianist, but don't play anymore because of burnout. 4. I bake when I'm stressed. 5. I've been a natural at making mixed drinks since I was 20. I'm not sure why but I "get" alcohol, that may not be a good talent to have, but my friends appreciate it. ;)
Do you ever just have those days where you need a change? I have always been one that has to have control over my life. When I feel like I don't have control, I change my hair. I haven't had one of these weird cut all my hair off moments in quite awhile, so it was about time. This cut however wasn't a rash decision. I wanted a more vintage cut to go with my new make up and pin up clothes that I never wear because I feel like a poser. I LOVE pin-up inspired things and just never took the full plunge because I thought that my family would think I was weird. I'm pretty sure my mom has gotten over the fact that I am an odd duck by now. So I cut my bangs on Tuesday. My hair dresser hates them, which I find hilarious, but everyone else seems to love them and so do I! I have the overwhelming urge to wear red lipstick every day now, which I would have never done before. I think I'm ready to start standing out in the crowd and stop being a wallflower.
After
It was great! It was kind of hard traveling with Bella but she was a trooper. My mom and I spent a lot of money and I bought some really awesome stuff. I am still trying to get photos of the shopping tagged so they will have to wait. We were so tired from walking around so much that we didn't go to the concert Sunday night. We laid in the hotel, ate McDonalds (the only fast food all trip) and watched Herbie Fully Loaded on Disney channel while knitting (me) and sewing appliqués for a quilt (mom). Here are a few photos of the trip. We weren't there for sight seeing so I didn't really take a lot of photos. The good stuff is what I bought I promise :)
A taste of the shopping pics to come...
I cast on for two projects last night. I figured if I wanted to knit on them this weekend, it would be beneficial for me at least get them started. That is usually the most annoying part for me. I ripped Camellia (ravel), just because I hated the cotlin yarn at that gauge. I need to make it out of something more squishy. I've pretty much decided I hate cotton yarn that doesn't have acrylic or wool added to it. I won't make the mistake of buying it again. So, I have all of this cotlin and needed something at a bigger gauge. Interweave's Frock camisole (ravel) is on my queue so I started that last night. It is more my style as well. I also started Pixie Purl's Country Kiddie. Can I just say how adorable her baby girl is. Really... I just smile every time she puts up new pictures. That is just the cutest baby face ever and believe me I'm not much of a baby person. There are a lot of babies coming around here, so I thought I would get started making some of these. I may even put some away for my future (yeah I think I've decided I would like to have kids some day now, nesting is a bad thing haha). I got my yarn pirate booty club package yesterday!!! IT IS GORGEOUS!!! Wow all I will say is shiny! So you may be wondering why I am stocking up on weekend knitting... I'm going on a mini vacation with my momma. We are going to Kansas City for quilt store and yarn store action. And we'll hit some antique stores as well I'm sure. They always have an outdoor philharmonic concert at union station for memorial day which is a lot of fun and is my main reason for going. Knitting outside at a concert, yes please! Bella is coming with. We will have a lot of fun. I'll post pics on flickr as I take them so you can stalk that if you like.
Really... it's been awhile but I did pick up some knitting at the grad party this weekend.
I bought Bella a dress, just because it was cute and rainbow for international day against homophobia. She kind of hates dressing up. I will be making sweaters for her next winter though, don't you worry.
We stayed with uncle Levi this weekend and went to the OBU graduation to see Patrick graduate and then stayed for the party afterwards. It was a busy weekend, but lots of fun. Bella was everyone's favorite dog ever. She is such a people whore. geez I can't take her anywhere. haha
I could see in both of Bella's ears today, the swelling is almost completely gone!!!! That makes me sooo happy. And... I noticed that she could hear me today when I was talking to her!!! I paid the pet deposit at my apartment last night so she is officially mine now. :) I'm in a crafting lull. I have a lot of projects that need to happen, we'll see if I can get those started soon.
Bella really likes the farm. I have some pictures but I took them with the 35mm so I will post them later. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled her like they were supposed to and she had a good time. My mom loved the shawl I made for her for mother's day. The antibiotics seem to be working on Bella's ears. They are draining a lot (it is really gross and I won't fill you in on the details). The really bad ear is still pretty swollen, but draining and the other ear is looking good. I'm hoping she gets some hearing back once the swelling is gone. She seems to notice when you yell at her now, which she didn't before. Bella is the best car rider ever! She sleeps the whole time, and if she happens to wake up she wants to look out the window for a couple of minutes and then will go back to her bed to lay down and sleep more. I just love this sweet little dog.
Why anyone would neglect a dog the the extent that this little girl was neglected is beyond me. And there are even far worst cases of neglect which makes me tear up a little bit just thinking about it. I took Bella to the vet today to have her ears checked out because they smelled really bad. Her ears were so badly infected and swollen that he couldn't even get anything in her ear to clean it. She is deaf. One of the ears is dying because of the infection. Like the tip is turning all rubbery and the skin is dying. Her nails hadn't been clipped in so long they were curling under. She also has congestive heart failure (which I could tell, because she sounds like Mariah did). So yeah I've got a sick little girl on my hands. As hard as it will be for me financially and emotionally to take care of a sick dog, I just have to do it. She is such a good dog. Really, she is perfect for me, I just want her to be healthy. :( The vet gave me drops and an antibiotic, so maybe we'll knock this thing out. She's an older girl like I thought, about 5 or 6. She is soo sweet I hate to see her itching her ears and being in pain.
why do you ask? Meet Bella! (I named her after the main character in the books fyi)
The week of death is over! Two projects and a paper all done and turned in. I still have next week's death papers, but it is nice to have a little relief for the moment.
I went to the allergist today wanna see my allergy test? It's a bad pic but kind of funny.
Yes I am allergic to everything? Did I really need to pay $800 bucks to find that out? Really??? BOO!
Oh well, I got lots of new drugs to take and nose sprays and I think I'll be starting injections soon. So maybe I will fight this thing off... maybe or I'll just move to Arizona where they apparently don't have allergies.
I am sooo going to bed at like 9 tonight. I haven't slept the past 4 days.
I got the first presentation done and presented tonight! I got a 95% good enough for me. Woot! Tomorrow I have a super fun presentation to do. My class is having an information grounds fair. Yes... a graduate level course is having a presentation in form of elementary science fairs. I love this professor. She is funtimes! An information grounds, for those of you who don't know, is a place where people meet for a specific purpose, like a store or meeting. Through personal interaction with each other, the people end up sharing information about other topics not pertaining to the place or purpose they are originally meeting for. My information grounds is my southside stitchers crochet group. So basically I get a grade to talk about my crochet group! Yeah, awesome, I know! One of the more fun aspects of this project is that I got to buy a project board tonight and I am about to go home and decorate it. I made a detour to starbucks for fortification and found out that they have att wifi that I can tap into because I pay for at&t internet at home!!! This is the greatest invention ever! You know what's the most fun about project boards? You forget how awful the Oklahoma wind is until you have a 4 by 3 piece of card board flying all over the place. Ok Starbucks is freezing me out now. I'm going home to play with paper and markers and glue. Don't worry, I'll take pictures. ;)
Yeah that is me, completely lazy. Not inspired to do any school work or much crafting either to be completely honest. I guess I've been trying to clean up my space. The day I took the old nasty furniture to the thrift store I just went through my closets and started throwing stuff out. Since I only had 30 minutes and couldn't think about anything, I got rid of sooo much that I had been hanging on to for no reason. I am planning on a few more of these soon. I just have too much stuff that came into this apartment with me and I continue shopping. I'm pretty sure the cat lady comment got to me some how, so I'm trying to make the place look more minimalist and like a 25 year old lives here. I went through some boxes yesterday that I hadn't opened since I moved in last MAY! I've accepted the fact that I can't buy a house until I'm finished with school and have my car paid off, so I really should fully move in. Maybe I'll even get permission to paint a wall. I really need to feel more at home.
Wow see how I drag on and completely loose focus? I wasn't even planning on going into how I've been cleaning constantly and changing the place around. Oh well...
I'll leave you with some fun pictures because I haven't made anything in a while to show off. Give me two weeks and the semester of death will be over until summer school starts up in June.
Weaving in the ends of the shawl in the McDonalds drive thru. Yes, I am that classy. I'm pretty sure Catherine laughed some pounds off at me doing this.
Hot tranny mess in my sunglasses. He's pretty, it is ok to say so. ;)
Yarn Pirate and Hello Kitty representing on the guitar hero controllers.
Yeah I've had a pretty good weekend of pretending that the end of the semester is not upon me. :( I'll see you all in two weeks. Or tomorrow, because you know I would much rather be on here than writing papers.
I have recently fallen in love with the site, Hello Kitty Hell. I know one day it will be the favorite blog of my future other half whoever they may be. Today's post, though, made me laugh out loud. I am so glad I made the promise to keep the Kitty in my studio only. She's tried to take over the house before and I just can't let that happen. It's a promise to my future other half, I realize that not everyone adores her like I do.
I made a practice cake tonight for Levi's birthday tomorrow. I am silly and have to try things out before I make them for people. Levi wanted whipped cream icing, but I've never found a recipe I like. So tonight I made this...
I've been getting a lot of mail lately. My yarn from knitpicks and webs came in as well as some blocking wires from knitpicks. I didn't take pictures because it all seemed kind of boring haha.
But... Ta da! I've been buying other things as well.
First, a special order I had made at Material Whirled. Hello Kitty Yarn!!! I bought some hello kitty beads of ebay and sent them to Reenie to spin up some magic for me. It looks amazing and she even added my favorite color, pink from space.
It's hard to see the beads, but they are there and awesome looking I must say. :)
I also became a yarn pirate booty club member and received my first package on Friday. I'm not posting the yarn, but it is beautiful! These are my extras for being a new member.
I also bought a trash tie from Heather Bailey's trash ties website.
So these kind of made me a little annoyed, I had to wait way too long for them to get shipped. Like three to four weeks (I'm sure there is a reason, but I'm impatient we've discussed this). Once they were sent it took two days to get to me so that is good. The other thing is that I'm finding it hard to get the one long tie to do much. I have a lot of hair, maybe that is it. Maybe I just have a fat head haha. I also feel like I need 8 hands to get it to work. These really are a great idea and I like the concept a lot. I think my hair needs one made out of velvet to actually hold anything though. but here is my first successful attempt. Maybe I will learn to love it after some practice...
Oh I also couldn't even think of getting it up when my hair was dry. I have really silky hair and it just doesn't like to go up in things. I don't know... I'm not giving up, but I would really like to know how to make it work. I'm waiting for those how-to videos Heather, haha I'll stalk your site until they are up. Oh and it would really help if the person in the video was actually doing their own hair.
Oh and if the wind here would stop it would help. This is how I looked when I got home. Dumb Oklahoma wind!
It's here. It fits. It is beautiful!
It doesn't even look that bad with the awful blue carpet.
I'm sitting in my empty apartment waiting for my furniture to be delivered. I'm not a big fan of waiting for anything, but I have homework to do so it's ok. I don't have to be at work so I'm happy. I'm listening to some of my new favorite artists. Kate Nash, Tracy Spuehler and Bombadil are pure fun. Go check them out. ooh they're here!!!!
So remember this?
The couch of death...
and the old man chairs? All of which has to be continually covered with blankets to keep the allergens in the furniture and out of my body?
Well I am very happy to announce that I am grown up people now and have bought some furniture! Squeeee
Yesterday Leaves, Cat and I went furniture shopping and after much debate, I purchased this whole set. Furniture salesmen are worse than car salesmen. Geez it was a rough time. I was just going to get a couch, so I was looking at some leather ones that had some antique qualities about them, but I knew they just wouldn't match my apartment. This one caught my eye the first time I saw it. For some reason I have just wanted a green couch. haha
Remember road kill?
And the urban outfitters couch I was about 5 seconds away from purchasing?
Really, I still love this one, but I just couldn't justify spending $625 on a sofa that was going to be shipped ups when I could get the one I bought for $325. And, I was still a little iffy about the low back and the fact that they sold out of the chairs that matched it last week. Oh, and I've been waiting on fabric samples for about two weeks. And this one would take 3 to 4 weeks to be shipped. Ugh just too many I'm not so sure about this...
Oh and just so you all don't think I'm independently wealthy, remember it is tax season, I'm a full time student, and we get that awesome stimulus check. I feel it is my duty as a citizen of this country to boost the economy haha.
I got the couch, loveseat, chair, ottoman, delivery and five year protection plan for $1594. Seeing that the leather couches I was looking at were well over $1000, I am very pleased with the purchase. I really feel like an adult now, is that weird? I've bought my own car and now my own furniture. It makes me happy :)
Last year I sold stuff at the Punk Rock Garage Sale, but this year I knew I would be too busy to make stuff so I declined on having a table this year. I did, however, have time to go out and support the crafters who were there and I got to listen to some great music. I love seeing what people in Oklahoma City are doing! Want to see what caught my eye??
JDStar Handwoven bracelets
Happy Place Design
Since visiting Gypsy, where Friday nights are spent playing the Golden Girls drinking game, I have been wanting to have some friends over for some fun. Last night we played the Sweeney Todd drinking game. It was a lot of fun, but should have been played on a Friday night. Work is hard after a night of drinking. Now I'm thinking a Firefly drinking game night is in the works. Shiny! I've been wearing my CPH almost every day since I finished it. I LOVE it!!! And Northampton yarn is amazing and doesn't seem to be pilling at all. I get to see my mom tonight and give her the yarn I dyed for her birthday. I hope she likes it and actually makes something out of it. haha I have recently bought two sweaters worth of yarn. One is for Brooklyn Tweed's Cobblestone (cascade 220 from the webs sale) and the other is for Kate Gilbert's Camellia (knitpicks cotlin) which I recently purchased the pattern for. I am super excited about knitting sweaters this summer :).
I had to let school and life take over for awhile, but I'm back at least for this post. I have a little rant for you. Ready?? What is it with people and their stereotyping of crafters? I had a guy over this weekend who actually had the balls to say that he expected cats to run into the living room because my apartment looked like a crazy cat lady lived there. Then, I promptly stabbed him in the neck with one of the knitting needles I keep in a vase by my couch. They aren't just there for show. I just love my friend gypsy, because he made the comment that new guys are not allowed to make fun of my craftiness until I have at least made out with them. I like that. I think it's a good determining factor. So if that guy reads this, you blew it mister, learn your lesson... don't make fun of girls especially crafty ones, or you will be stabbed and then kicked to the curb. Any other ladies out there have this problem? My ex thought my knitting was sexy, I need to find some more guys like that. In other news I have finished my simple shawl and need to block it. I'm lazy and have feather beds on both of the mattresses now so it might be awhile. I haven't been doing much else. The house has been clean for over a week and that makes me smile a whole lot. I went to the medieval fair in Norman this weekend and got sunburned so moving hurts. I got to see my sweet friend Staci and hang out with all of her boys and eat "burgs," which is always good times. I've been having some personal issues lately that are finally coming to an end which makes me very very happy. So yeah, things are good but super busy and school is kicking my butt and boys suck, the end!
This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Even if you didn't watch project runway. I've pretty much been watching it daily and quoting it with my bff for a week. Oh good times.
The crafting day... and guess what? I am being a lazy ass. Hmm cleaning my whole house yesterday has made me want to lay around all day in my underwear and do nothing but watch episodes of LOST online and knit stockinette. Wow my neighbors are LOUD. Geez don't they know that I like peace and quiet? haha I do have some graphic design stuff to do today. Thankfully, I've done all the sketches at work so I don't have to create everything. My brain is just mush today. I really hate school. Have I mentioned that? It is such a drain on my creative energy. sigh...
Ravelry forum radar is the most evil and also coolest thing on the planet. Don't go to it unless you want to be reading for an hour. Just sayin...
And surprisingly, still well. It isn't the 11th of April yet so we'll just see what happens there. I have an appointment at the allergy specialist on May 2nd. They sent me a freaking book to fill out about my allergy history. GEEZ that will be fun. With school kicking my butt and vacation, I haven't done much in the crafty world. I've been working on a simple stockinette stitch triangle shawl out of some pretty schaffer anne yarn. That's about it. I have some stuff slated for Sunday. I have deemed that creativity day. The rest of the weekend will entail sleep (still feel like I've been hit by a bus) and cleaning the apartment. Why do I invite new people over? It just means I have to clean for them. My friends know I'm messy and can deal with the yarn all over the place. They just move the stacks of library books when they need to sit down or see something across the table. haha Oh well, back to work. I'll try to be more talkative on here.
I had a great trip to Louisiana! We had a lot of fun, but I am worn out and could sleep for days. Too bad I have to go back to work on Thursday. There are pictures over on flickr of my boring drive there and our fun at the campus swamp on Easter. I hope everyone else had a great Easter holiday!
I did some ads for Beth of Doodlebirds creations for ravelry this month. I kept waiting for one to pop up unexpectedly on my notebook and it NEVER did. But just now it happened. I kind of did a little dance and then went back to my paper. I know I could see them on the page with all the ads but that is just not as cool. Just thought I'd share how easily amused I am.
One paper down, one to go. I see a venti white mocha in my future tonight. Hell, I might even get down right dangerous and make it a double shot.
got a little excited a posted about sweater day a day early. If you got it in you blog feeds, sorry. It is tomorrow. So see now you know in advance. Wear your sweater tomorrow to celebrate Mr. Rogers' birthday. :)
The papers are coming along quite nicely. I'm almost done with the first one and I will turn that in tomorrow then I will finish the other one tomorrow and turn it in Thursday. Then I will pack and drive to my parents to spend the night and then get up and drive to Louisiana on Friday.
Those two papers I talked about... not going so well. I just don't want to write. I'm starting to realize that I dislike school a lot. I know plenty of people go to school and work full time, but I really don't think it is for me. I'm kind of scatter-brained and loose track of things that I don't really care about, and if you've read my blog at least once I think you know where my love lies. I'll give you a hint - it isn't in library science. I'm not quitting, but only because I don't want to be labeled a quitter. In grad-school having 15 hours is halfway to being finished and I don't want that hanging over my head. I'm just in a bad mood I guess, because I've been sick so much and stressed and not wanting to do school work. And I want to see my best friend dammit! I need a John hug really badly right now. Ok I'll go write papers now.
pandora.com
Ever wished you could listen to music that sounds like your favorite artist for free? This site makes it possible with the music genome project. I absolutely love this site and listen to it all the time.
this ebay store hello kitty beads... yes please! She has other great stuff as well.
Manto Fev
Beth shared this one with me, she's kind of evil like that. They have lots of antiques, beads, other random notions and paper bits, etc. I ordered a butt load of stuff from there a week or so ago. Shipping was fast and the prices are amazing.
Here's what I got...
MAC fluid line I have a new obsession with this stuff. I have really sensitive eyes and can't wear eyeliner. I can wear this stuff for hours without having problems. Since it is a gel instead of a liquid it is really easy to put on and doesn't skip like pencils sometimes do.
The contenders
wowio.com lets you download FREE e-books. It's a great concept but still needs more titles. That hasn't stopped me from downloading some Shakespeare and the three knitting books they have.
Eggland's best eggs yeah since I've been sick I've been downing a lot of these and they just taste better than the other eggs you can get at the grocery store. I would of course prefer fresh eggs from the farm, but I only get those when I go to the farm.
So it is officially spring break this week, but not really for me. I don't have classes but my two assignments that were due last week did not get turned in because of me being sick and fuzzy headed so I get to turn them in this week. My profs are amazing and I am so thankful that they understand how awful sick I've been. I have to work this week as well. But my spring break will start on Friday when I get to leave and go see gypsy! I am going to work on getting my house a little more cleaned today and also work on my papers. I'll do the same tomorrow. I also have a graphic design order I need to work on and finish before I leave. I went to the doctor today. He gave me meds and was really awesome about trying to figure out how to keep this from happening again. He is sending me to an allergy specialist and said we might also look into getting a cat scan done of my sinuses depending on what happens at the allergist. Normally all of this would scare me because of the cost, but I've already met my deductible for the year, so bring on the medical charges. Speaking of costs... I just signed up for the yarn pirate booty club! I've wanted to join a yarn club for a long time and just haven't been able to. Most of them require payment for 6 or 12 months up front. I like how she does it by 1 month or 3 months. It's nice for those of us with weird money situations. I may have to cancel it after a few months but at least I can be part of the crowd for a little while. :) And I've never gotten any yarn pirate before so I am super excited! Oh I have to share this... I did something sooo stupid recently. I ordered some hello kitty beads off of ebay. I forgot that I haven't ordered anything from ebay in a long time and didn't think to check the address. Sure enough my order got mailed to my old address and I didn't even realize it until after the tracking said it was undeliverable and was being returned to the sender. I promptly changed my addresses on my ebay account and emailed the store owner explaining my stupidity and apologizing profusely . She hasn't emailed me back yet, but seriously I am soo dumb sometimes. I guess I just thought that it would use my paypal address since most everything does. Oh well... Hopefully it works out in the end.
Since knitting and crocheting are the only things I can do when my head is this fuzzy, here ya go...
lots of baby stuff
Petal bib from One skein for my dentist's receptionist I made booties to match as well, but didn't get good enough pictures of them (actually, none of these pictures are very good, sorry).
(not) Angora baby booties from last minute knitted gifts
They don't have the same effect when they aren't fuzzy. But I really like how they are constructed.
I made this this morning to replicate a baby hat that Leaves had me buy at the thrift store last weekend. I knit a strawberry for the top, I have an aversion to pom poms for some reason. Probably some childhood trauma.
I really like it. If anyone is interested I wrote up some rudimentary directions I can share, but they probably don't make much sense because of the meds.
I sewed buttons on to the central park hoodie. It is now officially finished!! I've been wearing it everyday this week. It is so comfy cozy! When I can, I'll take some actual good pictures. That will probably happen while I'm in Lafayette and someone else can take them.
I'm actually feeling better today, still hacking up nastiness, but my body is ok. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to get something to make the infection leave. I have to be better by the 21st to go see gypsy! I can't wait for time with my bff! Three months is far too long.
Well round three of the upper respiratory infection hit me yesterday. There is seriously something crazy going on. Let's look at the dates of when I have been sick: January 11th, February 8th, and now March 11th. Anyone else seeing a pattern?? I'm not sure what is going on, but I don't like it at all. I just got back from stocking up at Walmart. I am going to try going to class tonight. Last week was canceled because the prof was sick so I really need to go. I'll probably just end up setting up garageband to record the discussion and then go lay on a couch in the library if I feel like dying. I have some FO's, but you know, no pictures until I am better.
Last night we went to a drag show and my friend and I got pulled onto stage by the drag queen that was performing "Proud Mary" while dressed as Tina Turner. Not only did she pull us out to dance with her. She put her wig on me and made me be Tina. Even though I freak out in front of people, something crazy happened and my inner queen took over. It was awesome!!! Then she put the wig on my friend and she got to be Tina. Yea good times were had all around. Leaves took some pics on his iphone. Here is one of me getting adorned with the wig.
Yesterday was also a day for thrifting. I got some amazing mugs and buttons all for $5.
Here is the central park hoodie in all it's glory. I love love love it! It fits perfectly and I can't wait to get the buttons sewed on so I can actually wear it.
I bought some more peepys to replace the ones I killed. They had itty bitty ones at michaels the yellow ones are even smaller than the ones that came on the yarn. Too cute! I'll sew those on at some point.
So I had an awesome blog to write, full of pictures and fun and then blogger wouldn't work for a couple of hours. Now I'm not in the mood to write. So yeah go to my flickr account to get the scoop. I'm going to continue pouting now.
This is a few of us getting ready. I thought you all might enjoy a behind the scenes look.
I have been waiting for a ton of things to come in the mail. Supplies for the "big news" I still can't tell you about, my moo stickers, qoop prints to fit the many frames I have in my apartment (most of which are from the drag queen party haha, some super cute Japanese fabric I ordered and I'm sure some other things I've forgot buying. I'm now having to wait for him to fill up all of the mailboxes before I can go down and see what he brought me... I'm about to go to the camera store to get this fixed...
I've been delaying moving this blog to the domain that I have had for two years. It has just been sitting there because I thought it would be too hard to do. I have about a billion really bad reasons. To make it simple, I hate code and inputing code, but I do it when I have to. If I had gone with a classic template in the beginning it would have been easier, but I didn't. I love my template and I can't stand the templates that blogger gives for classic style. They are all too squished. I set up a blog to play around with everything to see if I really wanted to change it over and it looked like more work than I wanted. I also signed up for wordpress and then very quickly decided that I didn't want it. So what do I do?? Someone that has had to face this predicament please help me! And if someone can actually do it for me, I will totally be willing to pay. I just have too much on my plate right now to mess with moving it over, but I don't want to waste money on this domain that is dormant.
I have some big news but I can't share it yet, because I don't have all the information. Haha but get ready it will be super fun big news. And actually now that I think of it I have two big things coming up. Stay tuned! How's that for a cryptically annoying post?
I got my peepy yarn and it is awesome! I balled it up before I took pictures, so yeah I'll just take a picture when I finish the cowl. I also got my moos! I'll take pictures of those once I get the stickers in. I love mail :) Tomorrow is the party! It is a reverse drag party. How'd you guess Beth? haha I'll take a lot of pictures. I can't wait to show off my dress that I altered to drag perfection.
I'm going to another theme party this weekend. I've been practicing my make-up...
Can you guess the theme?
P.S. Don't worry, I didn't shave my eyebrows. Maybe I'll show a tutorial on how to make them disappear sometime. OOh or a video ;)
Does anyone have an irrational need to get knitted items off their needles as fast as possible? I feel, as a knitter, that it is my God given job to finish a project as soon as I can after I have started it. I'm not sure why I do this, but I will knit far too long and not take enough breaks just so I can finish something. This sweater is becoming the bane of my existence. I was fine with the back. The two front pieces didn't bother me. I started becoming more annoyed with the sleeves. I tried knitting them both at the same time and that ended as soon as the 5 inches of ribbing was knit. The second sleeve felt like a second sock, but I did finish it. Now, this where I keep asking myself... "Why in the hell did you decide you HAD to make a hoodie?" If you had made any other simple sweater pattern you would be done by now. But no I had to drive myself crazy and add a hood that I am still 3 inches away from being finished with... and the ribbing around the front(!) don't get me started. I'm sure there will be copious amounts of cursing coming out of my mouth when that begins. Geez. I think I really love knitting hats and crocheting granny squares. Those may be my knitting calling in life. yeah... I'll stick with the hats. :)
I am feeling much better! I'm going to work again and trying get caught back up with school. I'm knitting the hood onto my sweater now then it's just button bands and seaming and I will be finished! The weather hasn't been cold here so I've been slowing down on it. They are threatening snow again soon, but this weekend was temperate and they said it would be icy. The weather lies.
I have a back, two sides, and ribbing for two sleeves plus a little more on one sleeve done. I'm knitting as fast as I can. I have a pretty big paper due on the 20th so I'm determined to finish this thing today. haha I may not be able to move my arms tomorrow. update 10:40pm -- Almost finished with one sleeve. I lost some focus today. I was forced to leave the house for a few hours so I could have dinner with the lovely Beth. Good times. It was nice to leave the apartment for a little bit even though I can't really breathe now. hmmm Good thing I'm going to the doctor again tomorrow. Apparently there is some kind of legal thing at work that says you have to have a doctor's note to return after you've been gone for more than 5 days. So yeah I have to prove that I'm not typhoid Mary to be able to go back to work. Oh joy.
Unless someone wants to send me some money. haha I got something else in the mail today. Something I completely forgot buying. Yeah I'm that sad. I bought this apron pattern a couple of weeks ago and I am sooo excited that I got it!! Not that I plan on sewing it up anytime soon. I have a sweater to finish people! It was just nice to get surprise mail. And she sent me a moo card. My first one! And then that started it... I remembered that I wanted to make some moos a long time ago and my pictures weren't good enough to use (because of the old camera), so I bought some of those. And then I threw some stickers in on top of it. Yeah I know, bad Dana! So yeah, I should really leave the house soon. I'm still sick btw. I went to the doctor today and she gave me antibiotics and some steroids for the asthma that has been kicking my ass. So now I'll want to eat everything in sight. But, at least I will be able to live again. My boss told me not to come back to work until Monday. I'm kind of glad because they've been redoing the roof and all I need is to be around an awesome tar aroma filled environment. I'll just continue to breathe my somewhat clean apartment air, thanks. I have the back finished the the front left side almost finished on the sweater. I'm determined to finish by Saturday or Sunday. Snow is in the forecast. Maybe I'll stop sweating by then. I've been so hot from this stupid sickness. I haven't wanted to wear anything but tank tops and pajama pants. Oh well... I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. I spent mine with a couple of my favorite boys.
Looky Looky!!! I won a contest :) Dabbled's Anti-Valentine's day contest to be exact. I entered my magnets and picture frame. You have no idea how happy this makes me! I'm really not a big fan of the day, so to win an anti-valentine's day contest makes me smile. The other entry that won was a plush poisoned tea. Very nice. And go take a look at the other entries because they are all awesome. Gypsy received his picture frame on Monday and he's been getting quite the chuckle out of it. My other friends enjoyed their magnets with bitch and slut proudly displayed in candy. What can I say? I'm a classy lady.
I already told you this part... my yarn came in and I started my sweater. Here are pictures...
I thought I was getting better, but nope. My body was just tricking me. I can't get into the doctor until Thursday and I'm using vacation days at work because I ran out of sick leave after the last upper respiratory infection. Oh joy, some vacation this is! I guess I'll just continue to fight it and hope that I end up getting better on my own and pray that my coworkers don't flog me when I get back. Do any of you have weird cravings when your sick? I guess I wouldn't call them cravings, but maybe abnormal pickyness. When I'm sick I only want scrambled eggs and toast with butter. Seriously. For the past 5 days I've only eaten eggs and toast, oh and the 2 kinds of panera soup that my mom got me (I won't ever turn down panera). When I start feeling sick I stock up because I know I won't make it out of the house for a few days to get supplies. Here's a fun tally for you... Days sick - 5 Boxes of kleenex- 4 loaves of wheat bread- 2 sticks of butter- 1 eggs - 13 bottles of water - a lot. I'm getting plenty of fluids. Quarts of orange juice- 1 Ok now that I've shared what a complete freak I am... I got more mail! My yarn came in yesterday and I've already started my central park hoodie. It was hard to finish an assignment I had last night since I wanted to knit and my brain was fuzzy and didn't want to do work, but I got it finished and cast on for the back of my sweater. Now I'm about half way through with the back. Yay!
I'm freaking sick again! But this time it isn't as bad. One of my friends let me in on some herbal remedies that seem to be working. Peppermint, Ginger, Cinnamon tea with honey - I had to get used to the taste I'm not a big tea drinker, but it really helps clear things out and soothes the throat like no other. This works only slightly better than my crown and honey cough syrup and it doesn't make the room spin ;) Garlic (I'm using the tablets) - Am I like the only one that didn't know about it being a natural antibiotic?? I knew about the cardiovascular stuff, but it's really keeping the infection down. I also found a medical journal article that said that garlic could eventually be the answer to the antibiotic immunity that people have been building up, because unlike penicillin, your body doesn't become immune to garlic. Weird. I think I'm in love. Thyme and eucalyptus steam - heaven! And you all already know about my love for the neti pot. So yeah I'm sick, but I'm actually functioning this time around. yay! This is good because I have a TON of reading to do for my classes and a few things due that I haven't worked on. humph. I'm mailing off the Valentine's gifts today for all my friends in Lafayette. Yes Gypsy moves away and I still steal his friends. I just like sending mail and if I'm sending him stuff I might as well share the love.
The resin project worked! So I will be posting a tutorial soon. :) I'm sooo excited about these; they are super fun.
Here are pictures of what I bought yesterday. We went to three different antique stores and while I found a lot of stuff I wanted, I only ended up buying stuff at Rink Gallery in Bethany, OK. This place is amazing! Very big with a lot of booths. Tons of stuff to look at!
This yarn to be exact, in the dark green heather color. I am finally going to make an actual sweater!!!! I've wanted to make the central park hoodie since I first saw it and just haven't done it yet. So I'm doing it finally, woot! I am very excited. The hexagons are coming a long. I'll post a pic once I get the next round finished. It's pretty :) My best girlfriend is coming to stay the weekend with me. I can't wait to see her! It has been two months and I miss her since she got married and ran away to Austin, TX. I'm going to drag her to antique stores tomorrow. haha fun fun!
These are the full skeins I did for gifts...
I present the Firefly yarns!
I'm such a goober.
Tink is trying to keep it. But I know for a fact that she is never cold enough to need an Alpaca hat.
Ok ok here's the hexagon blanket...
It has been awhile! I have been trying to get acclimated to school life. It kind of sucks... a lot! Oh well only 3 more semesters. I can handle it. I have stuff to share. Including the few birthday presents I bought myself, but I'm waiting for the second one to come in. I started a hexagon blanket from my leftover sock yarn. It will be a long going work in progress seeing as I don't have many leftovers, yet. It's funny because now that I am enjoying the hook wielding again I am wanting to just kind of start sneaking in the sock yarn that hasn't been used yet. I've been holding off for the time being, but I just have sooo many pretty sock yarn colors it will be hard to keep out. I guess I need to start whipping out the socks. :)
...except to tell you that I am feeling much better! :)
Look I have pictures! You may have already seen these, if you have been perusing my flickr account. I put them up a couple of nights ago intending to write a post and then got a migraine. So, the post had to wait.
First, knitting!
The first FO of the year! This is the Quickie Cowl. It has actually been sewn up and finished for a week, but I haven't taken pics of it yet. This is going to go to my boss, because she knits scarves for people all the time and has yet to get anything in return. I really like this pattern, it is easy and cute.
My mom bought me sock monkey making socks!!! Woot! I am sooo happy about this. The big sock monkey my great grandmother made me is missing (we think I sold it in a garage sale a long long time ago with the scary clown dolls--long story). But now I can make my own, yay!
I got my FO 2007 book finished and back from Qoop
It looks pretty amazing. I have to admit my photography skills have greatly improved. I am still wishing for more natural light to enter my apartment, but for now it is ok.
I am really happy with the Qoop products and decided to try out the cards this time around. I like them a lot!
Sorry this pic is grainy I didn't want to use the flash. I should have scanned it, but was being lazy. :) Aren't these cool? I should have ordered more.
Ok I have a busy day of reading for classes and going to a stitching group. I will chat more later. Have a great Saturday everyone!
P.S. My birthday is on Monday so I may be too busy with festivities to post for a few days.
Since I was at my Aunt's last night, I got to watch cable. I landed on comedy central to perk me up some. It worked. Demetri Martin totally had me rolling. I'll leave you with his quote about glitter... "Glitter is herpes of craft supplies." I must agree. p.s. I am feeling better and am going to try going to school tonight.
I got a note from my apartment yesterday saying they would be fumigating my building today because of a huge infestation across the hall. Yeah, awesome! I've been in bed for the past four days and wasn't planning on leaving my house or ready to get it ready to be fumigated. I called the manager and she said there was no way they could postpone and I needed to find a place to stay for the night if I was having breathing problems. So yeah I'll be at my Aunt and Uncle's house tonight. I am feeling better though. Still coughing up stuff with one hurt ear, but better. I'm thinking about going to work tomorrow, but seeing as it is supposed to be snowing, maybe I'll wait until Thursday. I still need to practice being vertical. I figure I'll try going to class tomorrow night, if only for the first half. Get all the introduction yada yada and then sneak out before a coughing fit begins. Even though I feel up to doing things I hate going out in public when I'm still coughing up stuff. It is just plain gross and no one should have to be witness to it all day (like my coworkers). But, they are pretty much used to it by now. At least the pregnant one is on maternity leave now so I don't have to worry about making her sick. Ok enough with the sick talk. I've been knitting on my Lombard Street socks. Yeah I finally picked them up again. They had previously been tagged for the frog pond, but the yarn screamed for mercy not to be ripped again and I decided to grant its wish. I didn't really have the will to start something new so I decided to work on these. I needed something to keep me busy. I got some stuff in the mail this week that I need to share too, but that will have to wait for another time. I've got to get out of the house now so they can come spray.
Still trying to get better. I've slept two pretty full nights and I stayed awake all day yesterday. I'm still feeling gross, but I can function a little by myself now. I was able to knit a little bit yesterday, that is always a good sign. I'm going to try to move a little more today, my whole body doesn't hurt anymore so I think the infection is leaving a little at a time. I have got to be able to get back to work and go to school on Wednesday. That is my goal.
Thanks for the "get well" wishes. Torrance, I hope this doesn't last a week, I have to start classes on Wednesday. The way things are looking though, I will still be sick. I don't feel better at all. One would assume after 6 doses of antibiotics I would feel a little better, but I don't. My ears are on fire and I am still running a slight fever. I have been able to keep the chest congestion down by drinking tons of water, thankfully. My body just can't do much. I get dizzy very easily. Thankfully, (kind of) this is something that has spread around at work. At least 2 others that I know of have been gone all last week because of it. One was my boss so she will know what I am going through. The worst part right now is that I can't do anything but stay in bed and watch tv (thank God for the first three seasons of LOST playing on ABC.com!). I can't knit because my inhaler and the other meds make me super shaky. Oh well maybe I will work my way to the couch soon and be able to knit then. I'm ever hopeful.
I have an upper respiratory infection. "You're one sick puppy," the doc said. So yeah I'm going to bed now. I feel awful.
That is how I felt yesterday. Around 1:00 I started getting a tightness in my chest and couldn't quite figure out what it was. I went home early because it started getting really bad. I was hoping I could find an inhaler at my house even if it was 3 years expired. I took some mucinex and went to bed. That really didn't do anything. When I woke up past 5 I was scared. I still couldn't breathe and my doctor's office had closed so I couldn't get an inhaler unless I called the emergency line. Gypsy, great guy that he is, came over and beat on my back to loosen everything up for me. This is what my mom always did when I was little. I called my mom and all my friends on an inhaler search. Thankfully and hour later, my aunt was my lifesaver. She had extra inhalers at her house and I went and got one. Once I had the puffs I was fine. No more death for me. I was seriously at that state of going to the pharmacy and bribing the pharmacist for just one puff of an albuterol inhaler. I thought I was better, just had an asthma scare. Oh geez I was wrong. I am sooo sick today! I coughed stuff up all night and now I feel as though I could still die. The weird thing is that my nose is fine, it is all in my throat and chest. I called the doctor as soon as I could today. They had to take my info and call me back if they had a cancellation. Thank God they had one within thirty minutes so I can go this afternoon. I am amazed that I can go from ok to unbearably bad within hours. So yeah I sound like a boy whose voice is changing and I'm missing my birthday party at redpin tonight with my work friends. The worst part! School starts next week. I guess I can start reading assignments ahead of time. :/ I have my first FO of the year done and ready for photos. I'll take them as soon as I feel up to it.
It has been an amazing year of crafting. I mean look at all that stuff! I didn't even remember making half of it. I have to say I have some definite favorites...
The embroidered pin up is probably my favorite craft project of the year. I had soo much fun making it and I like the finished product. I don't use the computer case, so I think I'm going to cut it out with the fabric as a background and make some wall art for my studio.
This wins best ever shower curtain. It is just too cute for words. I'm sooo glad I got over my sewing stigma to make this.
Dying yarn has become a great new hobby. I'll be trying some more this year!
By far the best knit of the year. I am sooo proud of this one.
I sold stuff! While I really enjoyed the atmosphere of selling my stuff, I just don't enjoy the business side of crafting. I want to, but I can't, it is just not for me. So don't expect me to be selling more things anytime soon. But I still make things for people if they ask. I just don't have the drive that others have. I like school and working a day job too much ;)
Those are just the highlights of my favorite parts of the year. But seriously this was a great year for me. I made my first shawl and my first sweater. I learned to appreciate sock knitting and I conquered knitting with both hands so I could do fair isle. I also started settling into knitting. Don't worry... the minx is still inside me. I have many new crafts waiting to be tackled in 2008.
I'm in a hotel in Dallas right now. I will post my New Year's post when I get home.
Sorry this is sooo late. I suck this week. I've had a lot of friends in town so I have been playing with them like mad. I also bought a new toy and have been preoccupied. Guitar Hero? Yes, Please!
I hope everyone is having a fantastic Christmas!!! I had a great weekend with my parents on their farm. They are building a new house and they had it finished enough for all of the family to eat there on Sunday. I'll post pics soon. It is going to be a pretty awesome house. I also have pictures of the amazing quilt my mom made me (something she's promised me for years) and a run down of all the things I knit for presents this year. Now I'm going to go play with my boys who are coming over. Have a good rest of the day!
Oh yeah it rocked my face off!!! With only one tiny disappointment from this musical fan, it was an amazing adaptation go see it on Friday if you can.
It has been one crazy week. After getting my power back, I had to finish two papers and take a final. Now I am officially finished with my first semester of grad school! Then I started knitting up a storm. I made two scholar collars for gypsy out of the leftover yarn from his pirate hat (I only have a picture of one at the moment).
Maybe... 20 have died because of this stupid storm and a whole lot of the state is without electricity. I am very thankful to have mine back today. Now I can get back to my paper and studying for finals in the warmth of my own home. I am very glad I had a friend to lend me the use of her home last night. It was sooo cold in my apartment when I got up yesterday there was no way I could stand it. I'm too cold natured to be able to live in a 50 degree apartment. The thing that I find most depressing about all of this is the state of all the trees. It is really depressing driving anywhere there are limbs and split trees everywhere!
This one is far more interesting if you view the big picture.
Seriously the ice is sooo thick it was about 3/4th of an inch thick on my car yesterday and I had to take a hammer to it to break it up so I could get it off.
More limbs have fallen since I took these pictures. I should take more from around my work those trees are all over the roads.
My electricity stayed off after midnight last night. I took a hammer to the ice on my car today and drove to my friend's house. She still has power, thankfully. So yeah, I officially hate the ice, it's left my house a freezing palace of death and it's keeping my best friend from being able to drive home. boo ice!
Well the ice blanket of death has attacked Oklahoma. My electricity keeps coming and going. It probably won't last long enough for me to finish this post. The most sucky thing is that I have two papers due tomorrow, which are really hard to write when the computer keeps dying in between charges. It's also not fun doing anything by candlelight no matter what the purists say. I also put a cake in the oven right before it all started. Which means yeah, that isn't going to turn out very well. Oh its flickering again better go.
I wore the red dress last weekend. It was well received by all. And I was quite happy that I actually have cleavage now, it's been a work in progress for a long time ;).
Things that make me happy... allegro moscato wine tubetv Old Christmas movies Things that do not make me happy... two hour lectures that could take 30 minutes (glad the class time is over) Sleep paralysis (no sleep this week equals about 45 minutes of this every night before I can actually go to bed - that puts me at about 3 to 4 hours of sleep each night) term papers
The Audiobook Builder is the greatest tool ever! I load a lot of audiobooks on my ipod so I can listen to them easily at work and not have to load a new cd every hour or so. I have always had to waste time renumbering the tracks so they play in order, which I just recently discovered was a big problem with my new ipod. All of my old audiobook files that I had on my ipod mini have a different numbering system that doesn't read in the same order on my new ipod. I found this out awhile ago when I wanted to go back and listen to all of the older Harry Potter books. I didn't want to renumber again and changing the tracks manually sucks so I went searching for a helper. This program takes your files and turns them into an audiobook file that is read by itunes as an actual audiobook. It is easy to use and doesn't take long at all compared to renumbering tracks. And at under $10 it is a bargain. It has saved me soooo much time. I highly recommend it!
Then I have to go to bed so I can get up and go to class in the morning.
I got my yarn in and my Son of Stitch 'N Bitch book. I'm sure Gypsy will be very excited to look through this one. I haven't really gotten to sit down and really read it, but I like a lot of the sweater patterns.
I bought party dresses this week. None of my old ones fit. They are all strapless and fall right off. I guess that is a good sign. I bought these for Christmas parties and New Years Eve. I like dresses :)
Yes the hair still hates me I wore my gray hat all day. It usually needs a week to settle when I cut more layers into than normal. It will be people hair soon I promise.
I made two hats before Thanksgiving. They are the banana republic hat pattern from the craftster boards.
I started Koolhaas last night since my needles came in. I LOVE knitpicks 16" needles! They are amazing!
Ok good night!
I'll be out of it for a couple of weeks. I do have stuff to share. Until then you can lay your eyes on this and then imagine it getting worse over the next two weeks :(
I got my hair cut tonight. I'm not sure why it looks like a mullet after 4 hours of grad school assignments. Hmmm
and it's called Knitpicks. I have ordered three times in the last two months. My last order, made yesterday, should be here tomorrow. Yes, I needed the crack so badly that I had to rush it. I blame Christmas and grad school. I wanted to make random hats to hand out to people who weren't cool enough to get specialty knits, but I still love and want to make something for. Koolhaas and foliage are at the top of the list. That meant I needed four different 16" circular needles, since I refuse to do magic loop even though I enjoy it. I'd rather not have to think. I also ordered a bunch of different palette yarn colors because I am apparently addicted to fair isle now. I have about four projects that I just HAVE to make (for myself because I'm selfish). I find it nice to just order yarn and have it show up at my house rather than figure out how to get to the yarn shop on the night that they are open late and find out that they don't have what I need, but then I spend $40 because I feel bad leaving empty handed. I get way more yarn for my buck at knitpicks. It makes my poor self happy. I have FO's to share, but I've been feeling bad and haven't wanted to put makeup on in order to take pictures. I don't want to force you all to see the face of death. Oh! Also I've been seeing a lot of finished secret of the stoles out there. They are fabulous! A very beautiful pattern and I really like the theme. I'll probably end up knitting it, but in white, because all the light colored ones are sooo pretty. Great job everyone who has forged on!
I wasn't going to decorate this year. But somehow this happened last night...
I love my hello kitty tree!
Not sure why I have three stockings, but lookie at my pretty shelves. I finally got around to hanging stuff up. haha
If you've known me for all of five minutes you know that I have the worst allergy problems and almost no immune system. I get sick often. I am sick during all big events in my life and all the holidays. I've spent many a Christmas with tissues stuffed up my nose locked in my room while the relatives are over. I've had the stomach flu during two Thanksgivings and I have had sinus infections during my high school and college graduations. Walking across the stage in high heels is hard enough when you don't have sinus vertigo. With all of that said, I've been fighting my body for about five days now. I swear there is something wrong with the air quality of my workplace and am seriously considering getting someone to come test it once I am able to go back. Moldy nastiness and I just don't mix. My nose ran all day Thursday, Friday, and yesterday and today I feel like crap so I called in. Who knows what tomorrow looks like, but I swear I'm fighting it as much as possible. I want to see my family for Thanksgiving! I don't want to spend it lying in bed again. So I'm trying to keep from giving in. I'm not sick. I feel great thank you! That humidifier? Everyone can use a good climate and humidity controlled environment. The OTC meds lying next to me? Where did those come from? The nearby Walgreens must have exploded. At least I have a nice, clean, dust-free house to lie around in. :)
Here is my clean apartment. I know my living room doesn't look it, but I swear everything is put up except for the stuff I'm working on right now. It's just really full of stuff. I really should get rid of some furniture.
I seriously had to wear a mask all day because I am so sensitive to dust. I've been trying to keep from getting sick since the holiday is coming up and I have traveling to do.
I have some kind of bug that has decided to move into my yarn. I have no idea what it is, because moth larvae are light colored and this one is dark, but tiny. I have a small bin that lives out in the open that I throw stuff in that needs a new home. I just happened to see something on a light colored skein and saw that it was moving. Gross, my poor poor yarn. Its all in my freezer and I turned the thermostat down as low as it would go. I found one of my skeins already has some pieces that have been eaten. I need to get the rest of my stash in the freezer, but I don't have any more room left. :( The rest of it was up in drawers so I think it should be ok, at least better than the stuff on the floor. I was just asking for bugs. But it looked so pretty out in the open. The cleaning is coming along. the living room is done and my closet is done. I still haven't tackled the corner. I get caught up in organizing and often let the other things slip by. I already have a list of things to buy at walmart to help me get my closet more organized. On that list is now cedar chips. :( *update* the offending bug is dead, but I'm leaving it all in the freezer for a couple of days just to be safe. I also bought some moth/carpet beetle killer to put with my stash. The only thing I'm worried about with these are that they are toxic if you don't keep the tablets in airtight containers. I didn't read that when I bought them. They have hangers which led me to believe they were made to hang in closets, but they are made to hang in trunks and garment bags. Oh well. Note to self: have daddy make a cedar trunk for my stash, or even better a pretty looking cabinet. haha
So I normally wouldn't share information like this, but I need to. I've been living in squalor for a few weeks now grad school has taken it's toll on this girl. Here it is, my messy apartment. I'm showing these so I will have some accountability. If I don't post pictures of my clean apartment by Sunday evening, you can belittle me in my comments and call me a pig living in filth. Yes, I apparently need such words to keep me on task.
The bedroom of chaos
That pile on the floor in front of my dresser... it has been there since I moved in. My bedroom had never actually been clean because of this corner. geez I seriously need some major help.
The Living room of turmoil
The dining room of dispair
The bathroom of sparkles
Caught you off guard? I cleaned that last night. There was no way I would share how horribly dirty my bathroom was. The kitchen is pretty bad right now as well, but not horrible. It is the only room I keep clean at all times. I'm not sure why, probably because I eat food from that room. haha
Ok as I said this place will be cleaned by Sunday. I'll try to lay off the knitting until I finish it.
I had so much fun dyeing yarn last night. I didn't make as big of a mess as I had planned... a very good thing for me. I don't have projects planned for these yet, I just wanted to dye yarn. The High and dry colorway is for one of Gypsy's friends in Lafayette. The rest are mine, mine, mine.
So these weren't Wonderfalls inspired, but I was watching it while I was posting them to flickr and decided they needed names. Some actually match with the colors, others don't, but these are some of my favorite references to the show. If you haven't seen it, maybe you will be curious enough to see it now.
High and dry
Worsted weight - Paton's wool
wilton's icing colors - kelly green, royal blue, teal
Brass Monkey
Fingering weight - knitpicks bare superwash wool/nylon
This is my favorite!!!! It was a PAAS surprise dye job. I just dropped all the tablets into different places in the water and let it set. This was the result.
Get off your ass
sport weight - knitpicks bare superwash wool/nylon
wilton's icing colors - pink, brown, royal blue, kelly green, teal, yellow, violet
Fuzzy love bunnies
fingering weight - knitpicks bare superwash wool/nylon
wilton's icing colors - pink and brown
I've also been calling this on Neapolitan from space. That pink is powerful.
I also realized I hadn't posted a pic of the scarf yet. Here it is...
It is in the beach blanket colorway of Lime and Violet sasquatch sock yarn.
I got my ravelry shirt! Its a little bit small, but wearable when I stretch it out.
I got some base yarn from knitpicks in the mail this week. I love turning my hands and yarn different colors.
No, it's not too big, I just tilted my head down. I'll post better pictures later. I was just so happy I had to take a picture of it on my photo booth. :) I love it! Now to figure out what to make John instead. hehe
I finished the Multidirectional Scarf Monday night and as of last night i was 7 rounds (and adding lining) away from finishing the pirate hat. The hat however has made my wrists hurt, not good since my job uses my wrists a lot as well... so I'll have to keep from finishing it for a day or so. I'm pretty sure I stiffen up a lot when I knit with both hands, especially with such a tight gauge and a too big circular needle. I knew i shouldn't have knit so much on it last night. But I was under the impression that I was going to finish. Once midnight rolled around, however, I decided to put it down and go to bed. I'll post pictures for both when I finish the hat. Happy Wednesday everyone! I get to go to class today.... joy!
Did I finish any of my WIPs? No. I cast on the Anthropologie inspired capelet Saturday night at 5:30 and I finished it this morning. It probably took about 5 hours. I spent all day yesterday at the southside stitchers group working on all my other Christmas gifts and decided that I needed to finish something. I love this pattern. It is super easy and fast. I knit it on 13s so it would fit me without having to do math. I'm a leap of faith knitter. Thankfully, they usually work out for me. I'll try to get a better shot of me wearing it at some point.
I collect old broaches as well as aprons. This is one of my favorites that I specifically thought of when I saw the pattern! That and I had these two skeins of lambs pride bulky that weren't wanting to turn into anything I tried to knit them into. I guess I bought them for this knit and just had to wait a year to figure it out. I love it when that happens.
Here are the other things I'm working on...
I started this Friday night. After a quick lesson on knitting continental style from Knittinghelp.com I was able to knit with both hands to do this hat. My favorite accomplishment thus far! Gypsy is going to love this. He wanted Ravenclaw colors (book not movie) so I think this will be perfect. I've decided I'm not going to fully line it. I will just but a band around the inside and sew it down. He's not going to need anything that warm where he is.
My first ever EZ knit. I'm finding it somewhat annoying, but also quite enjoyable at the same time. I didn't put buttonholes in the yoke, so I'm either going to have to pull some through with the crochet hook (ugh) or sew some to the sides just for that part. I think I'm going to go with the latter. Or I'll just leave it without buttons on the top. I'm not sure yet. :)
I'm still working on the multi-directional scarf and the Hemlock ring blanket as well. woosh so much to do and so little time. I was also asked by a dear friend to make her a capelet as well. So yeah add another one to the list. Oh well. I like having a lot to do. This week is a little light on the workload for school side, so I may actually have another FO to share soon.
I am a mystery knitting failure. Starting a mystery KAL during my first semester of grad school was a bad idea. This, however, is only part of the problem. While I enjoy the online community and enjoy talking about patterns and yarn etc., I do not enjoy yahoo groups. I just can't seem to have any interest in leaving posts or reading anything posted by other members. I'm not sure why, but it is probably because everything is just too structured for my taste. I think this is why I love ravelry so much. I like that I can see everyone that is knitting the same thing as me and can choose to talk to them about it if I want, but I don't feel pressured to finish at the same time. I don't do well with deadlines at all... we've already discussed my procrastination problem. Nautical Knitter is amazing and I greatly admire her ability to organize a very great pattern and structured KAL/online group. This is something I could never do... too easily distracted. I can't even stick with it for two weeks and she has devoted tons of weeks to this project. Seriously... I am not worthy. :) I have also realized that I am primarily a product knitter . I see something I HAVE to make and I make it. I have to be in love with the pattern before I'll be able to commit to it. I also have to be able to knit it as fast as possible. Mystery knitting doesn't allow for this and as much as I would like to be able to knit a pattern that I haven't been able to fall in love with, it is never going to happen. I'm kind of pathetic like that. I am very much enjoying seeing the progress that everyone else is making. So those of you that made it past the first week, KEEP IT UP! You can do it! But me? nope, I can't... remember I got kicked in the head by that horse. I'm going to be working on putting a lot more stuff on ravelry this weekend. I have about 4 knitting projects that I'm working on for Christmas presents. I'll try to get around to posting some progress pictures.
Ok I'm doing it... I'm going to post pictures of me dressed like a ho. I am only posting this because I made the costume, not because I want to show off my thunder thighs.
And yes my hair is big because it's full of secrets.
Never underestimate the power of four knitters with pointy sticks and booze at the ready. I spent some time celebrating a certain someone's birthday tonight. Yes we really did knit in a bar. the end.
So tonight was a fun filled night of class, meeting a new friend, and going shopping for Halloween costumes. My friend is going to be a mouse ("duh") at our Mean Girls party so we were on a mission for mouse ears and a sultry outfit for her to wear. We found most of the costume at Target, the greatest place on earth. She still needed ears. We left in a mad dash to make it to the Halloween store on time, but that didn't work out, they closed at 9.
On the way back to her place we passed a Christie's Toy Box that had a "we have costumes" sign up. We decided if anyone would have animal ears and slutty clothes it would be Christie's. They did not have ears, but we overheard the funniest and weirdest conversation ever. When we walked in there was a couple in the store with us looking at costumes. I didn't pay any attention to them because you expect couples to be this this store together. But then I heard the girl say "I want this one dad," as she held up one of their costumes. And I kid you not her dad said "well, I don't know it's quite revealing... ok. But you are not wearing it to school!" Whoa!!! It took everything in me to keep from saying "dude, you took your daughter to a sex toy store to buy a costume and you're griping that its too revealing??" Seriously, who does that? Who takes their High School daughter into a store that sells vibrators and porn and expects them to find a costume that isn't going to be revealing? The costumes really weren't that bad and I saw worse ones in the Halloween store, but oh my I was flabbergasted.
Oh and to top my night of fun off, I broke myself at target.
Yeah I totally kicked the corner of the tampon trash can while trying to flush the toilet with my foot. Smooth operator...that's me. It's already swelling and turning purple. I'm not going to be able to wear shoes tomorrow. Owie :(
This is the smile of a girl who has finished her assignment that is due tomorrow (yes, before midnight even) and is going out with her friends and then to work out. This will be the first time in forever that I've been able to work out two days in a row.
It is also the smile of a girl who is 98% done with her costume for Friday.
Now let's just hope that I can keep the smile before the end of the week. I do have other assignments to think of ya know.
Firstly, here's the corset. It's a bad pic, I'll get some better ones with my full costume. I'm going to be a cat at the mean girls party. I still have to make my skirt a little less skanky.
That's what I'll be doing for the next two days. My mom is on her way here now. I called her this morning and said that I needed my mommy. There's no way I can sew it without her. I don't know enough. It would be scary. I'll do a real post later, I have wips to share too. yay!
A new all stitched catalog!!! Woot! I know how many knitters love to dissect Anthropologie's yummy goods and thought I would share. I'm really excited about this. There are some amazingly beautiful pieces. I hope they are mailing them. I love to have their mailed catalogs on my coffee table. :)
I figured life would get better after my midterm -- it didn't. Now I have two assignments to do this week and a paper due at the end of October. Its not like I thought grad school would be easy or anything, I just didn't think of how I was going to have to add it on to everything else in my life. Working full time, trying to get odd crafting projects finished, doing freelance work for people, Christmas knitting(!), cleaning my house, buying groceries AND now 6 credit hours of grad school!!! How do mom's manage life? Seriously, I have major respect for people that have children. I can't even manage to remember when my bills are due. Thankfully I'm pretty organized. My ical is scary to look at, but at least everything is on it (color-coded and alarms set if needed). Recently, I've just decided I can get more done if I don't sleep. The only problem with that is that I am not a morning person and it causes me to be uber cranky in the morning when I only get 5 hours of sleep the previous night. Oh well, I'm done complaining. Here are some pictures.
Yarn I got from Beth last weekend:
Pretty pretty stuff! Neither picture gives the yarn justice. The lace weight is drool worthy with the many subtle shades of color that are in the orange.
My secret of the stole clue 1.
I finished it Thursday night. I started clue 2 Sunday. I am liking it so far!
Part of one of my costumes. This one's for our "girl world" costume party. I'm not sure what I'm doing for work yet.
My friends and I are major Mean Girls fans and thought it would be fun to dress slutty. haha I'm sure that will be a fun party to post a pic of later. Maybe ;)
See that cute little pink coin purse hanging on my key rack? That is what I bought at the Girlie show. Maybe I will have time to take a proper picture of it later. Its a coin purse key chain from motokitty. Its hot pink sparkley vinyl! I LOVE it! I've admired her bags for awhile and really wanted to buy one at the show, but alas, they were all too small for me. I like huge mom bags and while she has pretty big bags, I just wasn't feeling them :(. But the coin purse, yes, totally me. Its the only thing I ended up buying. I had plans to buy more on Saturday, but we didn't end up making out there. My best friend was in town and we went to get her hair done at a beauty school where she was given the slowest student in the world. Oh well. At least I got to go Friday and grabbed business cards from everyone I loved!
I'm working on a class assignment that has me terrified of online database searching at the moment (I've hit my first wall and can't figure out how to search a required topic), so I will procrastinate a little more and gush about my new favorite show. Bryan Fuller has done it again. Ok so I know he's not in charge of everything dealing with all the shows I love, but I will associate him with them anyways. Executive Producer and very often writer is a big deal. First Wonderfalls, then Heroes, and now this? He's on a roll. I am thrilled that Lee Pace is in this show as well. I miss my Wonderfalls characters so it's nice to see a familiar face. Although, Tyron Leitso would be my eye candy pick over Lee any day. Also I am really digging that two of the main characters are from Oklahoma. Represent! Last night's episode, which I just watched online (I have class on wednesdays), was sooo good! Knitting and Kristen Chenoweth singing Olivia Newton John....yeah I was pretty much jumping up and down in my seat. I am really enjoying how this show is made. It has whimsy, but just enough morbidity to bring it down to a more entertaining level. I'm also seeing quite a bit of the same witty conversations that I enjoyed from Wonderfalls. The art direction is amazingly refreshing. I can't forget one of my favorites though... Jim Dale as narrator is fantastic! I really don't think anyone else could do a better voice for this show. Lets go back to the knitting, shall we? I really liked that the knitting needle he pulls out of his jacket at the end was retractable. How cool was that?! I am all about knitting being represented in a great way. There was proper terminology and of course the amazing "make a cozy for everything" mentality. The little money bags and the gun holster cozies are currently fighting for the top knitted item from a tv show right now. Ok I guess I have to get back to my assignment. I really am acquiring a nice phobia of databases with this assignment. I think it all started with our lesson on DIALOG and user command interfaces. Make it stop!
So I just took my midterm. It went not so well. I had no idea what to study and the things I studied more weren't even part of the questions that he asked. Now that I kind of know what he wants I will be prepared for the final, but I hope I did well enough to make an ok grade on this. I have another assignment due Friday, so it will probably be Saturday before I get to have a real crafty post. Sorry to leave you all hanging. I'm working on the secret of the stole and I'm on row 26 or something like that. All is well.
Hi all! Dana is currently studying for a midterm, but wanted me to tell you that she hopes to bring some crafty goodness to you all by Thursday.
Well they didn't make it. I was hopeful until I went to the post office with my box marked on every side with "this side up and fragile" only to have the obviously disgruntled worker turn it on its side right in front of me and then throw it into the bin. I very much wanted to scream at him, but I guess I can't expect too much; care of packages is probably not in their job description. That picture is pretty great though. It gave me quite the laugh. My bff is quite cute with his animated faces. He said they still tasted fine. I can be happy with that. But I will still curse the postal system for their treatment of my box.
I finished the headband today and started a scarf since I liked the pattern. Mindless yet difficult looking. Levi has claimed the scarf. I think its looking pretty good, but I'm not the biggest fan of the yarn colors. I really liked it online, but I didn't like it as much when I got it. That NEVER happens. Oh well. Its growing on me, but I would never wear it. Here are pictures.
Wow. I need a dye job!
Or Grad school has now officially taken over my life and I probably won't have any FO's for a long long time. I'm shooting for Christmas, but friends and family may just get a pat on the back and a generic Christmas card. I'm actually between projects while waiting for my stuff from knitpicks to get here so I can start Christmas knitting. I started the lombard street socks after frogging the mystery socks. I wasn't too excited about the pattern for those. Then I picked up some other yarn and just started playing, which led to me picking up my sock yarn that I made the monkey socks and bootees out of. Its so soft and colorful I decided to see how it would look in the multi directional scarf. It then got downsized into a headband. I think. It may get ripped. I'm very fickle right now. I just wanted something to work on in my free time (ha!) on campus.
While I may cause myself to lose a lot of sleep because I often make a conscious effort to wait until the last minute, I must say that I am good at procrastinating. I am most definitely a "works best under pressure" kind of gal. I've always been this way. I really really tried to keep myself from doing this in grad school, but it hasn't worked. I am still waiting until the last minute to do assignments, because I know my brain will not work until I am absolutely forced to concentrate on something. Its that "ooh shiny!" complex I seem to have obtained in my formidable years. I say all of this because its almost 1 am and I just started reading/writing for an article review (due tomorrow) at about 10:30ish tonight. I'll have the final product ready to turn in after a coworker reads it over. I was kicking myself for waiting to do this until so late, but now I'm pleased. I mean, I know this is how I work and I know I'm not really able to change it. I also know that I do very quality work in a few hours that could take others weeks. Sometimes I just wish I could change for my health. Staying up late to do work the night before stuff is due isn't good for me. I really need my sleep. With that said, goodnight!
My apartment building has decided to redo our parking areas. While this is greatly needed, it is also a big pain in the ass. If I don't come right home after work I risk not getting a parking spot and having to "make" one for myself. Seriously... When I left for work this morning, I walked outside to utter chaos. There were cars parked EVERYWHERE! Now they are doing our side of the lot so I can't even park anywhere near my building. >:(
Ok I'm done complaining. Here's the bff pic I promised from this weekend.
Sadly this is the only one we took. I didn't get camera happy this weekend for some reason. I didn't take any pictures of the wedding or of us playing in Holdenville ... nothing.
I finished stuff! The bootees have been done for awhile, but I finally uploaded the pics.
I don't know who is getting these yet. Probably my cousin. I love them though!
I loved them so much, I made myself a pair! :)
I'm finally getting used to my mac. I was really worried about moving on and kept everything on my pc for awhile. OMG what was I thinking? I got acclimated to OSX very quickly and am singing the praises of apple everywhere I go. One of my favorite parts is the dashboard. I'm definitely a widget whore... I've already changed some of it since tonight haha.
Go buy your beta-user-only ravelry t-shirts now! I just bought the gray and pink one. Its too cute! I love love love ravelry! If you haven't signed up on the waiting list, do it now. Its totally worth the wait. This is wedding weekend for my friend Staci. I came home to bring John to see his grandma since we had the day to spend doing whatever. I'm soo glad my gypsy friend is here!!! We just have to be back to the country by 7 tonight for rehearsal. Its about and hour and a half away. I'm so tired today and should probably take a nap, but I know the minute I fall asleep he'll be knocking on my door and ready to go to the mall. Lafayette doesn't have an apple store. haha I'll be back on Sunday sporting pictures of my fun weekend with my bff. Everyone have a wonderful weekend. The weather is beautiful here I hope it is where ever you are as well!
I'm finally figuring out how to use iphoto to my advantage. Here are some more pics of my monkey socks. We made up just long enough for me to get some action shots last night.
The pics are still losing something in the translation between my computer and flickr, but they are better, not nearly as washed out as they have been. I learned a trick with my camera as well! If you cover the flash with a folded tissue or piece of paper it will diffuse the flash from glaring on your stuff, if you must use a flash. I get no sunlight in my apartment and the outside is not pretty here. If you ever wondered why so many of my pics are taken from my bedroom this is why. The above pic was taken with that method. The bottom one has a little glare.
Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A.
Yarn: Knit Picks bare fingering superwash donegal tweed dyed by me
Needles: US #3, 2, 1.5 brittany dpns
Started: 7-30-07
Finished: 9-14-07
Here are my monkey socks. At the current moment I am not happy with them because they won't stay up. I'm still getting used to the whole knitting socks thing. But they are pretty and I can be content to just look at them and pet them occasionally. Maybe I can wear them on my hands when it gets cold?
Since I had so much fun knitting baby stuff, I cast on a Saartje bootee last night. They are seriously the best baby bootee pattern that I know of.
They are super cute and seem like they will actually stay on a wee foot for longer than two seconds. I know I may be killed for saying this, but I could do without the babies, but I really like knitting for them. As long as they are never mine. haha. I guess I have to let it out now. I'm not a fan of kids, especially babies. I like to be able to have them talk back to me and listen to their young kid wisdom. They crack me up when they are well behaved and funny, but there are so many brats out there its hard for me to like them. I know I was one myself. I can't believe my parents didn't drown me. ;)
Ask and you shall receive...
"How do I transfer it?" you ask... Easy. I have found three different transfer pens. The Sulky pen does a thicker line, but its what I used. I got it at Michael's on the t-shirt supply aisle not on the embroidery aisle. My mom bought me the Dritz Iron-On transfer pencil, but I haven't used it yet. She got it at JoAnn's. Aunt Martha's also has transfer pencils you can get online. They are on sale right now. :)
Transfer it on some wool felt or other fabric and get to it!
Thanks for the great comments! Ok so I am going to put the templates up soon. It means turning on the beast of a PC and photo-shopping some stuff. They will probably be up tonight so check back! I have tons of reading to do! Since I was too sick to think last week, I didn't do any of the readings for my class on Wednesday. So I have to catch up with that and I have to do the readings for this week as well. My second article review is due in two weeks. But the best friend known as Gypsy is coming home for the weekend (our good friend is getting married) so I will most likely be playing with him all weekend and won't be able to do it then. I should get started on that today as well. I am feeling much better! I forced myself to get out of the house for a few hours yesterday to go to my southside stitchers meeting. I felt bad when I got back but I took some medicine and used the neti pot to clear out the nose, then I broke out the home made cough syrup. For those of you not raised by backwood folk - a shot of Crown with honey and lemon added. No my parents didn't give this to me as a child, that was a joke. But it really does do wonders if you don't have a can of coca cola lying around (it will do the same thing). They both eat all the gunk out of your throat. Its really a wonderful thing. I'm still coughing today, but feeling much better. I'll probably have a cough for another week. It usually takes two and a half weeks for me to get completely over a sinus infection. Ugh. Ok I have to get back to reading... the days of lying around doing nothing are over. I'm so glad I get to go back to life on Monday!
I got it sewed on!
I also finished Matinee!
Someone please tell me why Debbie Bliss insists on making all of her baby pattern have tons of seaming. I can't stand how stiff a lot of the finished products are. Who would want to put that on a baby?
I knit the body in the three pieces and kitchener stitched them at the shoulders. I knit the sleeves in the round. So the only seaming I had to do was on the sides and the the sleeves.
