Crafty, Like Ice Is Cold

Struggle

2009-08-31T21:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, life just blows. "Struggle", for those of you who know me.... well "struggle" just makes sense. It's almost been a year since I've blogged. I'm alive and crocheting I promise. More to come.

Worst Blogger Ever

2008-12-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

Yes... thats me. I win hands down, no argument. Sometimes, life just gets in the way. I suppose if I had an adoring fan base, I'd be more dedicated. As it is, I think I might be the only person that reads this. I won't go on and weigh this poor blog down with my woes, so on to crochet. Suffice it to say, I havent blogged since July, but I have been crocheting. I dont want to chat about each project like normal so we'll just do a link dump with a quick summary.

Star Scarf - An AZ car ride expirement. Failed. This won't be getting finished

Scrap Starghan - Started on the camping car ride, finished... I don't remember when.

Rainbow Scarf - An AZ car ride expirement. Success.

Pink Market Bag - Started to help a coworker learn the pattern, finished on AZ car ride.

One Skein Scarves - Random lunch time projects, green vanna yarn, and double strand mint in simply soft.

Blue and Green Baby Ripple - Baby blanket at the request of a coworker

Baby Boy Granny Square - Another baby blanket at the request of a coworker...this one who crochets might I add....

Homespun Scarves - I no longer own a camera, crappy cell phone picture of two homespun scarves, and a black and hot pink boucle type scarf.

Horizon's Beanie - An AZ car ride project, she found some boucle in the dollar aisle that she had to have...

Granny Square bag - Random usage of old cotton yarn, still not assembled. And cat. Sexy sexy cat.

Elvis' Log Cabin Blankie - Who names their baby Elvis? Apparently these people.

Elvis' Starghan - No mom didnt want just one blanket for Elvis, apparently being the King you need 2 baby blankets.

Drop Stitch Scarf - Boredom on the same 16 hour round trip car ride to AZ

Arizona Booty - See how productive I can be while trapped in a car for long periods of time

Arizona Beanies - See above statement

Moving - The grand finale.... I had to move. This is me sorting my stash. Well this is me frustrated from having to move and packing, lying on my yarn stash.

I know there is a Trojans colored beanie (the team, not the condoms, where is your mind?!) that I didnt get a picture of. There was a fall colored homespun scarf that left the house without a picture also. I worked up another boring double strand p hook afghan also, again, no picture. That's still at home though, if I get a camera, I'm on it, I promise. Current projects on the hook are a hat for my child for Crazy Hat Day at school, 2 scarves for a coworker, and my mother would like a sweater for her dog. I promise I'm working on the whole camera thing.

On a lighter note, on top of crocheting I have left the house, I promise. Chalk La Strada at the Italian Festa, pumpkins, and Halloween. Horizon and I went to the Chalk Festival as we try to every year and celebrate our culture. This drawing was so vibrant in the sun, it's always hard to believe they're done in chalk. Another favorite, I like catching the artists working on them, makes them that much more amazing. Pumpkin time was great fun also; Horizon feeding a goat (yes she has purple hair), monkey and mommy on some slightly uncomfortable hay, my brother and I and monkey (again with the uncomfortable hay), and Horizon and I with our soon to be destroyed, I mean carved, delights. Yes, we carved them ourselves. Which, by the way, takes 364 days to forget exactly what kind of pain in the ass carving can be. Horizon working on hers and the finished products. I carved the castle, Horizon did the more traditional one, and Laura did the one with eyebrows. Last but not least, Halloween. My little Ariel.

I'm Alive

2008-11-11T20:16:00.000-08:00

No really, I promise. Life falls apart sometimes. Without the struggle, we wouldn't appreciate all the rest. I will post a crochet blog soon, really really soon. Cross my heart.

Honkeytonk Badonkadonk

2008-07-11T10:46:00.001-07:00

Well because I have a bit of junk in the trunk and I get to see Toby Keith tonight. Yup, I'm cool. I saw Brad Paisely and Sugarland recently too. I'm a country geek.
Anywho, I have been madly crocheting, trying to both build an inventory and get projects out of the way. I think projects are a bit like bunnies, they quickly multiply. I was almost done with baby blankets, just working on my last two for the year for my girlfriend. And now, with the Cherry Blossom baby blanket finished, I have 3 more to do. I still need to work up a 2nd one for her that may match the nursery better, my mom's sister in law just had a baby boy (Elvis?!) and my mother would like to send her two (2!!!!) blankies, and my coworker would like a blankie to send to her brother. She crochets by the way, she just prefers my work, is too busy, and likes the patterns I use. It's a baby kinda year I guess. Before the last 3 blankets popped up, I did manage to start on some inventory projects. I started the Boteh Scarf (Interweave Crochet Spring 2007). I have to rip the whole thing out though, if you notice... it's backwards. I did the triangles the wrong way and the whole thing spirals inwards. I also started a stash Starghan, just something to have for the craft fair. The starghan was worked on the way to and from camping, as was the Boteh. What was supposed to be a 6 hour drive round trip, was 7 hours on the way up and just shy of 4 on the way back down. I did get time to crochet so I cant really gripe but man LA traffic sucks and it makes me cranky.
Other than LA traffic, camping was a lot of fun and it was a good 4th of July. Here is the usual recap of holiday fun times:

My Wyatt, passed out, sandwich in hand, face in plate. He fought the nap as long as he could he really did.
Playing horseshoes, Michael and I were on a team together. We started strong but we lost, maybe I should have drank more.
So graceful, yet so uncoordinated.
Mr Rogers, good in the hood. OK, so not Mr Rogers, but a grubby me in grubby pjs.
My rockstar child playing contentedly with her Littlest Pet Shop toys in the tent.
The girls after some margaritas (read tequila shots), Kings Cup, and Bullshit.
Never to be forgotten, s'mores. The number one camping necessity. Well besides tents and all that crap.

Weekend Bloggerdoodle

2008-06-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

This might be the first weekend blogging I have done, usually I make work pay me for blogging. Ok, I blog while I should be working, really it's all in how you look at it. I am sitting here snacking on carrots though, go healthy me. Alright, alright you win... I'm dipping them in garden vegetable spread (is that redundant?). Next week I'll be camping for July 4th, I'm pretty excited for some down time. I have yet to decide if I will bring crochet, I dont want anything to smell like campfire. I will probably bring crochet for the car ride though, so I guess there may be some minimal crocheting done.

So you ask, what have I done while I ignored you for the last month or so, I've been crocheting! Oh yes, I occasionally show I am accomplished. It's rare, I hate to set expectations too high. Last time I checked in, there was two more baby blankets to go and the teachers afghan. Teachers blanket done, one baby blanket is finished, one is in the works, and I made a scarf out of scraps. I have really really abnormally high hopes that I will be able to build an inventory for Christmas time so I can peddle my wares at our work craft fair. Yay, for Christmas money. OK, so I finished the baby blanket for my coworker. I chose a new ripple out of the 200 Ripple Stitch book, and went with the new Vanna's Choice Baby yarn. Here is the Pink Ripple, in Pink Poodle, Rose Mist, and Purple Mist. Yes, it's a WIP picture, sadly, I am lame and forgot to take a finished picture. I have plenty of Vanna scraps from the last couple baby blankets since I am addicted to her yarn and I worked up a quick scarf. I went with the trinity stitch, it's quick, it's easy, it's familiar. Maybe as my adoring public, you could all chip together and buy me a Crochet Stitch Bible type book so I could stop using trinity so often. Until then, it's all your fault and I will continue trinity-ing away. Also, I know I said I may use log cabin or seija for my next baby blanket, but I lied. Well I didnt lie so much as I changed my mind, cause I'm a girl and I can do that. I am going to make two baby blankets for my girlfriend and wait until her shower in August before I decide which one to give her. She has registered at one place for a cherry blossom set and at another place for a more jungle type print. I dont know what will match better, so I am starting out with the Cherry Blossom Blanket. Next I will do one in her other colors. Whichever I dont use will just go to inventory for the craft fair.
As for crochet, that's it for now. Horizon was in her school's talent show with her Girl Scout troop. She did really well, they sang Growing Strong. She has muscles like mom! School's out now, so her and I have our Wednesdays to hang out and be girls. She got her braces, she loved choosing the colors! Strange child and she's all mine.

Happy Friday!

2008-05-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Yay for Friday! Ok, well I work tomorrow, but we can pretend anyway. It's been over a month since I have updated this, but I promise I have good reasons.

April was busy, May is shaping up to be just as busy. We should all be overjoyed that I can ignore my work for long enough to update my blog. First, there was the wedding. My girlfriend got married and I was one of her bridesmaids. I got my hair and nails done and wore makeup, I looked like a girl! It happens so rarely, I really enjoy when I do get to be a girl. It was a beautiful wedding on a yacht with the reception on land (thank god). I must say, we looked like hot mamas! There was more tattoo work, I dont think I will be done with ink anytime soon. After wedding and tattoo, there was the celebration, with a parade (!), to honor my giving birth. Ok, so the parade was for the SpringFest and the celebration was for Horizon's birthday. Both events coincided, so my little girl scout was in a parade on her birthday with her troop. Check out the shirt she made, she's crafty like mom! I dont remember being 9 honestly, but I know when I did turn 9, I didnt get an ipod. Lucky brat.

Amidst the chaos, I started a P Hook ripple afghan to replace the one my brother lost (thru no fault of his own). His birthday was the 12th, so I had maybe 2 weeks to finish it. I did! I finished it last...Wednesday? That left me with a week and a day to make a market bag for Laura for her birthday. Not only was I going to attempt a pattern I had never made before, I was also going to incorporate beads for the first time. I have been very very good about only buying yarn for projects I need, once I finish the current project. Last Wednesday I bought yarn for the first time in ages! I bought cotton ease for the market bag, and some wooden type beads. I also bought some red heart soft yarn for a Boteh Scarf. I had hopes that if the bag worked up quickly enough I would be able to knock out the Boteh in time. No luck. I did finish the bag though. As I find with most Lion Brand patterns, the projects are way oversized, this thing is huge, check out how it dwarfs my child. I improvised the pattern a bit, adding a flap with a wooden button for closure. I tied all the ends off last night and started to package everything up. Today, there is a combined celebration for 2 of my coworkers who are having babies. I will be giving away a baby boy and a baby girl blanket, both made awhile back. Also, I had another Garden Scarf made ages ago that would be packaged with the market bag. Check out all my goodies leaving the nest today!

Now, I will start on the end of the year teacher's afghan for Horizon's teacher. After that... freedom for a bit? No, 2 more babies to go. Another coworker and the new bride are having babies, both girls. I think for my coworker I will make the Seija Set from Happy Hooker. For my girlfriend... I am not sure yet, maybe a Log Cabin baby blanket from Vanna's book? 3 more blankets, then freedom! Yeah right...

March Madness.... In April

2008-04-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

Ok so I sorta missed the deadline to title anything March Madness. Oh well.
It's spring (I think... has it been 6 weeks since the snowbound rodent did or didnt see his shadow?) and with spring comes stress. Longer day light seems to mean less time. The more time I can be outside means the less things that get done in my house (um, hello, I havent seen my closet floor since Christmas). This also means I dont get a whole lot of time for crochet. The down side of this is everyone I know has a birthday between March and May. Everyone has babies between March and May. Basically, less time to crochet, yet 50 projects to do. I end up typically ranting about this every year, usually closer to May. In May (warning: this is not an exaggeration) between my family, in laws, and friends, there are 18 birthdays and/or anniversaries. Oh yeah, and just to up the crazy, throw in 2 holidays. I wonder, 9-10 months before May, are there less people in public? Is everyone shut inside (hopefully) doing naughty things? Are the malls less crowded? Is there less traffic? I may test this theory this year and go out around that time. Maybe the lines will be shorter. I start this rant, and along comes the inevitable fist shaking and curse words, and then I stop. I remember. I had my daughter in May. Apparently I am no better than anyone else, and I too was doing naughty things at the same time as the general public.

So anyway, back to March. 2 baby blankets found their homes. Brian's baby blanket was delivered (thought I had a finished picture...oops), and I was told, well received. Also Val's baby blanket was delivered. Sorta. Initially, I started a baby girl blanket for Val in "non traditional" baby girl colors. I hand picked a new pattern, something soft and pretty, and spent a couple extra dollars on Vanna yarn. I started the Grisaille, remember this? I eventually finished the blanket, and set it aside for her shower. Now, a week before her shower or so I learn she is registered at a local baby superstore, and I check out her registry. While it's not traditional baby girl colors, it is traditional baby colors. It is mint green, light blue, and white. Now, I have a hideous blanket that I made that I refuse to give to her. I scramble and throw together a quick N hook, double strand, baby soft blanket and give it to her. She loves it, it matches perfectly and she will never know about the hideous concoction I had initially made for her. The problem is now I am stuck with a hideous baby blanket. Sigh.

Other random updates, remember my toe? The poor grotesque toenail that I injured? It got worse. Then, last week, my toenail fell off. Yes, I only have 9 toenails now. Boy, its a good thing I dont have to look pretty in two weeks at my girlfriends wedding... oh wait, I do. I could totally disturb my audience and take a picture of the newly naked toe, but I vomit a little in my mouth just looking at it and it's my toe. I will save you the horror.

Also, Easter has come and gone. It seems to me Easter happened too soon this year but I dont think I would handle it any better any later. I still scrambled at the last minute to find my daughter something cute to wear on Easter and I still scrambled to make Sicilian Easter Bread. I make this bread every year for my Grandfather who really likes the bland, tasteless rope bread. It's designed to hold painted Easter eggs, for decoration purposes. I make it without the eggs, why waste 7 eggs? Also, due to my grandpa's restrictive diet and bland tastes, I dont glaze it either. Basically, I just make bread dough and twist it into a fun shape. Here is the wonderful dough, pre rising and pre baking. After rising and baking, yumm, braided bread. This year on Easter, was my brother Alex's birthday. Another blanket found it's home, The Monstrosity was delivered. He loved it, I was so very ecstatic. He rushed right to his room and put it on his bed. I couldn't have been any happier. Easter was overall, a pretty good day, I love my family, I love all the food, I love the fun times. My brother sent me a joke this Easter that I wish I could tell year round, it makes me happy. I giggle just writing it. Why does the Easter Bunny hide eggs?

To hide the fact that he is fucking chickens.

HA. Ok, so really, I am simple minded, but seriously, every damn time I laugh.

Here is our Easter fun:

Hubs and I being the newly skinny rockstars that we are
The birthday boy interjecting in a photo op of Grandma... every time. (I have about 10 pictures all with his hand, head, foot, or arm in the picture in some way)
Horizon showing off her stupendous egg finding skills (we havent told her why the Easter bunny hides the eggs)
My wonderful husband being his crafty self and hiding eggs in solar lights
And me. Happy, warm hearted me. Without coffee. Not a pretty sight.

Lastly, more progress. Yes, it's not crochet. So what. Stop reading. No really, go away if you dont like it. Go. Now.

If you stayed, check out www.yarnabuse.com. Yes, it's knitting not crochet. Seriously though, this crafter made me laugh until I cried.

There once was a man from Nantucket..

2008-03-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, don't ask, it's Amy's fault.
Let me just start off by saying, I meant to update this a week or so ago. I really did. I even took pictures of the projects. Did I update this, no of course not. I blame work. I had training last week and my computer access was limited. Yeah, that's it.
Let's revisit the January list.

Finish living room blanket - sigh.... maybe by next winter
Make Danny replacement blanket - Not even on the horizon yet
Make Cynthia a replacement Charger blanket - WOOT, she found hers, removed from list
Felt something, anything - I have high hopes I will do this... someday
Finish Alex's blanket - HA HA DONE. DONE DONE DONE. Please see previous blog entry.
Fruit cozies for my cell and ipod - let's just say ditto on this in regards to felting
A market type bag for Laura - well its only March right, her birthday isnt until May
Coffee cozy - see felting something, see also fruit cozies
Baby boy blanket for Kim - DONE
Baby girl blanket for Val - DONE, pictures to follow
A baby blanket of undetermined sex for Johnny B - its officially a girl, this will be the next baby blanket I work on.... I think
End of the year afghan for Horizon's teacher - why do I foresee myself sweating and working my fingers until they hurt at 11pm on the day before the last day of school?

3 things on the list are done and its only March, that says something right? Now let's look at an updated version:

Finish Living room blanket
Make Danny a replacement blanket, birthday in May
Market bag for Laura, birthday in May
Baby girl blanket for Brian, end of March baby shower (pictures to follow)
Baby girl blanket for Johnny B
Baby blanket of undetermined sex for girl friend
End of the year blanket for Horizon's teacher, end of school year mid June

Ok, see, the new list is smaller. It becomes less scary, possibly more attainable this way. This doesn't mean I still don't harbor deep desires to let my inner crochet craziness out and crochet fruit cozies. I have been extraordinarily good on the yarn purchasing this year. Could just be because I am broke. I like to think its due to my superhuman willpower. On that note, I havent had chocolate in 711 hours. I havent broken down and stolen candy from a child yet. I havent rolled my face in rolo's (please tell me someone else saw Bernie do this on Biggest Loser and laughed until they cried). I haven't even started drinking my chocolate bubble bath. All in all, I've been successful, and I am a wee bit shocked. This doesn't mean come the end of Lent I won't be a chocolate eating fool.

Sorry for that bit of tangent there, lack of chocolate does that apparently. On to crochet now I promise. I finished the Grisaille patterned blanket I had started on. This is Val's baby blanket. I bordered the shell pattern with a shell border. It ripples a bit but I think I like it a little bit wavy. The color scheme never grew on me as much as I thought it would. Hopefully she will dig it though. I also started a baby girl blanket for my husbands coworker and fellow high school classmate of mine. It's another of Vanna's lap afghans, the same pattern I used for Kim's baby blanket. I really like how mindless it is to work, it isn't a lot to tote around and it's quick. Just a week or so later, I am almost done. One last row and edging and another one down. Next will be another baby girl blanket. I think I am going to dig out The Happy Hooker for that and see if I can manage the Seija Set. Lastly, I was perusing random photos the other day and found this. Happy Easter 2005. This is crochet related trust me. This was my husbands and my first Easter together. Notice my cute poncho (in at the time I swear). I crocheted that in about 2 or 3 days when I couldnt find anything else to wear on Easter. Now my mother in law has one, as well as 2 scarves, 2 hats, and a purse. This is what happens when people find out you crochet. Lastly, Easter in March??!!! Sigh, hope everyone remembers to spring ahead this weekend, til next time... muah!

Wooohoooo!!!

2008-02-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

Insert happy dance here. I did it. I did it I did it I did it.

I finished The Monstrosity. Just for reference, that is the camo ripple on a California Queen bed. It hangs over on both sides. I finally finished edging it (with 3 rows of sc, so tedious!) and trimming all the ends I wove in. I can't believe it's finished. I wanted to take a picture all wrapped up in it, but I didnt want to bite on CrochetMe's picture. It's heavy too, I could have suffocated myself on accident, that would have been sad. I can see the irony now, "Here lies Beige, smothered with her own creation". Sad.

On a more positive note, I had a great weekend. Not only did I finish Alex's blanket, I finished the baby boy blanket for my coworker. This was the log cabin pattern from Vanna's new book. I edged the blanket in single crochet, same as the camo ripple. I am almost ahead of the game. I still have so much to do by June-ish, but I feel better having 2 of the projects already done.

Lastly I started on my 3rd project due this year, the baby girl blanket for yet another coworker. I wanted to do something different, so back to the 200 Ripple Stitch book I went. This time I chose Grisaille, and went back to Vanna yarn. I bought light purple, dark purple, chocolate, and taupe. The pattern is pretty with alternating shells, it's a bit more complicated then I imagined, but it should end up very girly.

Th th that's all folks!

"Human Progress is neither automatic nor inevitable..."

2008-01-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

In honor of MLK Jr day, we'll start with that quote (BTW, yes I know I am a week late, give me a little credit here, at least I am writing). Also because progress is slow going on curent WIP's and I googled "progress quotes" for a little motivation. What I found wasnt necessarily motivating, but it did make me feel better about slowly chugging along.

It's raining out which is fantastic. I am sure I have mentioned it previously, but I really do love the rain. Granted, I love the rain because its a rarity, but regardless I still love it. Last night, it was the perfect crochet night. It was rainy outside and cold and we'd eaten an early dinner. Nothing to do but curl up on the couch and crochet. What makes it even better is now that I am making headway (finally!!) on Alex's blanket, I can actually throw it across my lap while I work on it. The blanket seemed to go nowhere for awhile but now when I stand up, it comes nearly to my shoulders. I am finally excited by the length it has gotten and hopefully the excitement alone will push me to finish. I was floundering on what to do with the ends, then I came across CrochetMe's goddess Kim Werker's finished ripple. Sigh, the jealousy. I think I have decided to edge it. Go around the whole thing with a few rows of SC or HDC in black. She edged hers and it looks amazing.
I also started a project that could travel with me. I decided to make one of Vanna's log cabin afghans for my coworker who is having a boy. Now I already know I can be considered somewhat of an eccentric at times, but I had jury duty a couple weeks ago and I was excited. Really truly excited. I would get paid from work for doing my civic duty, and I wouldnt have to go to work. I got to take my little crochet bag and sit for 3 hours and do nothing but peacefully crochet. This was my jury duty progress. Granted, I havent worked on it much since but I have gotten a bit farther. I met up with another crocheter at Starbucks to help her translate the pattern and I got a few more rows done. I am really liking Vanna's yarn also, it seems so much softer then good old red heart and the colors are so much more awesome. It is a bit more expensive but I think for baby blankets and smaller projects, I may be hooked. Ha. Hooked. Get it? Ok, well it was funny to me.

Rainy days

2008-01-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

I love the rain. Now maybe if I lived somewhere more rainy, I may not. As it stands, I live in San Diego where the 3 maybe 4 days of rain we get each year are well recieved by me. Most people get upset when their weekend is coming up and hear that it will rain all weekend. Not me. I was pretty excited for a rainy day weekend. I wore my uggs nearly all weekend, wore comfy sweaters, even lit a fire in the fireplace last night.

I even made a rainy day splurge. I really like Vanna's acrylic yarn. So much, that after using her yarn for one of the many garden scarves, I checked out her book. I liked nearly all the afghans in her book so I bought it. I bought the yarn in boy colors and I am going to make a granny square type afghan she has in the book.

I also took some WIP pictures of Alex's afghan, the last garden scarf, and the living room afghan. Mind you they dont look like monstrosities in the pictures but both Alex's and the living room one are too big for me to cart somewhere. This hinders me taking them on car rides and coffee shops. Right now they are my home projects and I will not let myself start another at home project until at least one of these two is finished. Now, having said that, I may start another travel sized project though.

I try to keep a running list of what projects I need to work on, what I would like to try, and what I would like to accomplish. Since it is the beginning of a new year, we'll put my list on here, and maybe just maybe, at the end of the year, it will all be done. Right :)

Finish living room blanket

Make Danny a replacement blanket

Make Cynthia a replacement Charger blanket

Felt something, anything

Finish Alex's blanket

Fruit cozies for my cell and Ipod

A market type bag for Laura

A coffee cozy

A baby boy blanket for Kim

A baby girl blanket for Val

A baby blanket of undetermined sex for Johnny B

End of the year afgan for Horizon's teacher

I am sure there are a million other things I would like to make. We'll stick to this list for now and hope I manage to get a least one or two items completed on it.

Sigh, I think I have a case of the Mondays. Happy Monday.

Holy Frick

2008-01-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Its 2008 batman.

Seriously, what happened to 2007? I remember escaping Downtown at 12:01am 1/1/7, and then it was Christmas. I dont feel like I got enough accomplished, but it isnt my fault. The year didnt hang around long enough, really. I should do a recap of what I did finish and that might make me feel better. Eh, thats too much work.

Its been over a month since I last emptied my brain, I have finished a couple projects I promise. I finished the red garden scarf I made for my wonderful aesthetician, but I was sadly without camera at the time, so no pictures. I also threw together two last minute scarves for my girlfriends birthday, I finished the purple and green garden scarf, and I made a quick k hook, simply soft double strand trinity stitch scarf. I started an additional garden scarf, made with this wonderful Moda Dea Tweedle Dee yarn I picked up. It would be an expensive venture, but man, if I could make a blanket out of the stuff, it is so wonderfully soft and cozy. I dont have a WIP picture of the scarf yet, I will try this weekend. I have been working on Alex's ripple camo afghan also, I didnt take updated pictures yet either. It obviously did not make it in time for Christmas, but luckily, his birthday is in March, so now, its a birthday gift. Or will be.
I had a good laugh to myself last night. Mostly I looked crazy giggling by myself at home, but no one saw. I ran out of classic black red heart for Alex's afghan so I needed something else to work on. I was not motivated to start something new, so I decided to work on my living room afghan. Maybe you remember this? I didnt. I didnt remember what hook size or the pattern whatsoever. I actually had to dig up the pattern boook, figure out what hook, and re-read the pattern. I honestly dont know when I last worked on the darn thing. I felt good working on it again, and remembering how simple the pattern was. If the blanket wasnt so bulky it would be great to work on at lunch at work, but its a little cumbersome to carry around.
Alright, now let me atone for my December sins. I was honestly very very busy. I normally have 3 days off, I work 4 ten hour days. I worked a combination of 5 Wednesdays and Saturdays, turning my 4 day work week into 6 day work weeks. I also had....some stress issues in December as well as the holidays. I had 2 friends birthday dinners, not including my birthday (did I mention I love my idiot brothers). I had 2 girl scout events, two holiday parties, and a retirement party. Throw in the partridge in the pear tree floating down a river of red wine and there went December.
For Christmas, Horizon got everything, and I got Uggs. We are happy people.
For a quick recap, Christmas eve:

Christmas:

Yet again, Alex and I, we're sexy bitches
Evan, Cody, and Danny (Cody is opening my gift to him which I wrapped in an entire roll of packing tape)
The whole fam, yes the dog too.
My dad and his new stepladder, we made sure it was rated 300 lbs, not 200 lbs. He broke his ribs last Christmas...
My stepmom in hysterics over the dork picture....long story

Oh, and my toe. Happy birthday to me, I am an idiot. I have no idea how I did it. I dont know if I broke my toe or if I will lose my toenail (eeew). It hurts occasionally and I initially limped for a day or two. No more line dancing inebriated. Yeah right.

My husband spent New Years at the Rose Bowl. He stalked Emeril for me and took a picture. It's nice that he took a picture for me, can I admit though, I am a bit jealous and kinda want to kick him in the head for meeting Emeril without me?

Happy holidays, and welcome to 2008. I've said it before and we all know I am lying.... I will try to be better at this. :)

I'm lame.

2007-11-27T20:02:00.000-08:00

I know it. I was supposed to be better at this. I last blogged on Halloween, its almost a month later. Lame lame lame. I'd like to say I've been lame because I have been one productive busy bee. I haven't. It's the darn holiday season. Thanksgiving then Christmas, one right after the other. Columbus should have thought how much his feast with the pilgrims was going to affect the celebration of the birth of Christ. Seriously, how inconsiderate.

Alright, no more ranting. Let's see what I have done. Here was my list on Halloween:

Val's birthday gift - afghan? (Due November)
Alex's Camo ripple
Laura's market bag
Jackie (beautician) christmas gift - scarf
Danny's christmas afghan

I finished Val's birthday gift. It did indeed turn out to be an afghan. The infamous P Hook ripple, it's quick, it's easy. It was all scrap yarn. Well mostly. I ran out of "cafe" half way thru and frantically scoured yarn stores in search of it. I hit pay dirt on the 5th store and luckily stocked up. Naturally I procrastinated and then spent 5 straight hours finishing the blanket the day before her birthday. Needless to say, she loved it.

Secondly, Alex's blanket. I have worked more on it, I am not so sure about the Christmas due date. It also was intended as a scrap blanket, but as usual I have bought more tan, camo, and green for it. He also caught me. I had spent the day before Thanksgiving cleaning like the anal OCD clean freak I am. I left only my project bag out figuring after a long day spent cleaning I could relax with the blanket. Not only after a long day of cleaning did I not feel like lifting a finger, I forgot I had left it out. When the boys came over the next day, he remarked on what a cool blanket it was. Oops. Well at least I know he likes it? I stashed the bag after he noticed it, and hopefully he'll forget all about it.

Laura's market bag. Yeah, um no. I haven't started on this. I haven't unearthed the yarn yet. I haven't found the pattern I want to use yet. This is looking like a no go. She loves scarves though, so there is hope for a handmade Christmas gift yet.

A gift for Jackie. After my attempt at the basketweave I decided to try the Garden Scarf from Happy Hooker. I did it. Well, it's almost done anyway. One more flower and end weaving and I should be good to go. My appointment with her is December 15th so I have plenty of time. Ha, so says the girl that waited til the day before to finish an entire half an afghan. I am hoping she'll really like it, it's red and it's sparkly and its San Diego perfect. It doesnt get cold enough for a full thick east coast type scarf, this is more decorative and girly.

Lastly, Danny's blanket. Again, no. I dont have the yarn yet. Last time I made him a black p hook ripple with a red, yellow, and green stripe thru it. That one was lost thru circumstances beyond his control so now, he whines that he needs another. I dont know if I just want to make the same p hook ripple (listen....easy, quick, brainless), or if I want to try a new pattern. I have seen a lot of the granny square type afghans, made in one piece from the center out. Same colors, but different look? I dont think this will be done by Christmas either, maybe I'll shoot for May birthday gift.

Ok, I also made a beanie while I was out of town in Ventura. I dont have pics, just your standard one stripe beanie. It was black with a green stripe, made for my best friends baby brother. I started another Garden Scarf also, I wanted to try Vanna's yarn out. I like the color scheme, its a pretty dark purple, dark green, and mustard yellowish green sorta? I am almost done with it also, it has no home yet. I am thinking of making random scarves out of scrap yarn and just making little Xmas bags. Gifts for the girls, and gifts for those who give you a gift that you are never quite prepared for. I have high aspirations, low time and motivation though. I also plan on baking goody bags for work. Plus my grandmother has me baking all of her biscotti this year. Sigh. How I love the holidays.

In my defense, lest you think I have spent the last month, partying, drinking, getting tattood, and being an all around shiftless layabout, I took my daughter to the Mother Goose Parade. If you look in the back of the photo, you'll see, I am dedicated to my craft, notice the crochet bag and WIP in the chair.

I'll be less lame about this, I'll really try..... yeah right. :)

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Boo! Scared you didnt I? Ok, I am lame. Its been awhile and I have been a bad blogger. It's been busy, really it has.

Alright, let's see. I finished my cousin Vicki's baby blanket. It was a feverish week of crocheting, but I managed it. As promised, here is the closeup of the stitch. The increase rows were double crochets close together and the decrease was more spaced out. I am incredibly proud that it was all scrap yarn. Well mostly scrap yarn, I had to buy two of the sage towards the end just to finish it.

I have also been working on my brothers christmas blanket. I am trying to crochet as many gifts as I can, as christmas gets closer the list gets longer and at some point I will need to condense and be practical. I work well with lists, my beginning list helped me get a bit done, and my August list did as well. We'll call this one my Winter List:

Val's birthday gift - afghan? (Due November)
Alex's Camo ripple
Laura's market bag
Jackie (beautician) christmas gift - scarf
Danny's christmas afghan

I know there is more, but currently my mind is a bit wonky. I am blogging thru a migraine so hang in there if this becomes a bit tangent filled.

I started on Jackie's christmas gift. I wanted to do a scarf for her since I had already made her a hat (you remember the Evil Hat). She loves red and I found some Lion Brand Soft yarn and a great sparkly red (bernat maybe?). I have seen a lot of basketweave stitches around and thought it would be simple and quick and look great in a scarf. I tried it last night and I am not ecstatic with the results. This is double stranded with my fabulous crochet lite K hook. I dont love it, but its sort of tedious and time consuming and makes my brain work a bit too hard. I also tried just double strand with a trinity stitch (see the Harry Potter scarves attempts). I didnt love it either. I think I am not challenging myself and its not... funky enough for her. Next I think I am going to try the scarf from Happy Hooker, the Garden Scarf? Its the one that looks like a bunch of flowers daisy chained together. I'll post pics when I decide what to do of course.

Lastly, how could I blog on Halloween without the required Halloween photos. Here is Horizon as Jasmine, and here is her and I. Also, lest you think my craftiness ends at yarn, here is our pumpkins. I did the skull and crossbones. I am so fabulous. Ok, well it was a stencil, so shoot me.

Stash clearing

2007-10-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have been very very good recently.
My two latest creations are all stash yarn. I started the Camo ripple on the drive to Vegas and have taken time off from that currently. I found out last week that my 2nd cousin is having her baby shower this weekend, so I wanted to make a quick baby blanket. I dumped out my blue and green yarn tub and pulled anything Simply Soft out. This is what I was left with. I decided on a pattern from Quick and Easy Baby Afghans, one of the Leisure Arts mini booklets. Its a pretty simple ripple, the increase row is double crochets and the decrease row is spaced out double crochets making for a pretty but different looking ripple. It's made with 2 strands of yarn with a K hook. Next time I will try to take a close-up, I am 8 rows away from being done. Here is the current progress of the baby blanket. I have been working pretty feverishly on it at night, it's a good thing it's a quick blanket or I would never be done in time.

Hubby and I also went to disneyland again recently. This is our 2nd trip within a month, since we are passport holders we like to go and enjoy the different holiday decor. We took some pretty cute pictures with the Halloweentime decor. Last year we went at this time and they had these huge candy corns out front between the parks. We took a super cute picture last year but unfortunately due to a pc mishap we lost the picture. We tried to re-create the cuteness this year, but maybe I was just cuter last year! Yesterday was our 3rd anniversary, we have been together since October of 2004. Monday is our 1st wedding anniversary, we havent killed each other for 1 whole year! We had intended to take a cruise next week to celebrate but with the holidays and everything else going on, we postponed our vacation to the last week of the month and put the cruise off until next year. Who knows what we will do during that week, there may be another Disneyland trip in our future! With a whole week off I am sure my husband will want to surf, so I just may get some beach crochet time in.

Oh, I finally got my Ravelry invite, check me out, I am on Ravelry!!!

In between vacations...

2007-09-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Blogging the time away. I promised updated pictures from our Disneyland trip, and ta da I actually uploaded them! Here is hubby and I at Disneyland. Also here are the beanies that were made on the way up and back. The black and grey was to Disneyland, and the brown and green was on the way home.

After Disneyland I felt motivated by my own makings, and made a couple more beanies. I lost interest in the middle of the 4th one. You can see, its still in progress. Its just scrap yarn in sort of a fall theme. I am very excited about the upcoming season, I love sweater season. It's everything that is cozy. Hot cocoa, fireplaces, sweaters, sexy boots, rain, chowders, the smell of the cinnamon pinecones, and of course the best, Christmas. I wont run off on this tangent today however, maybe on some rainy day.

Following Disneyland, I worked for one day, then hubby and I left for Las Vegas. It was his best friends 30th birthday, so that requires "doing it up in style". I wanted to pack a project for the 5 hour drive to Vegas that wouldnt require too much. Too many hooks, too much yarn, too many patterns, etc. I decided on packing a new project (gee of course, I only have a few WIP's right) and started on my brothers Christmas present. I randomly picked something from my 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns book. I wanted something not too lacy and girly, but something that wasnt too tedious either. Also, I didnt want to do Soft Waves, which I had already tackled in the blue scrap one I made for Jayden. I settled on Strata. I bought camo yarn only, and used all the brown, cream, olive green, and black out of my stash. I am trying to be good and use stash yarn for the most part. My brother wants to join the military when he turns 18 so I think he will really enjoy the camo blanket. I didnt get a ton of work done, it's long so it takes awhile to go back and forth. I also didnt crochet a lot on the way back, hubby was tired so I drove for a few hours. Here is the ripple in progress.

I had a crafty day yesterday, finishing 3 pages in the scrapbook, painting mine and my daughters toenails (hot mama red, another great thing about the fall, red nail polish) and working a bit on the Camo Ripple. This weekend I work graveyard, that usually gives me a bit of time to crochet.

My first wearable

2007-09-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Well, besides a hat or scarf. I did it. I finished the light and lively tank top. The pattern was a mess. Easy to follow but the sizing is just screwy. I made the large or extra large cups, yet I ended up cutting the small bodice down in size. There are things I would change if I did it again, but since summer is almost over I have lost the motivation to make another. I was pretty excited when I finally finished it and modeled it for my husband. His comment was "it looks homemade", so I may not be wearing it in public anytime soon. Here is the tank laying flat, and a closeup of the wood grain button I used. Overall, I am "eh" over it.

I finished my 4th fat bottom purse as well, lined and added the handles. I like the rattan handles, if I ever made another purse for myself I would probably use them.

Yesterday hubby and I trekked to Disneyland, trying to get a few more visits in before our passport expires in October. I havent downloaded the pictures yet I will try to get them up next week. It was a productive trip, I made a beanie on the way up and a beanie on the way back. I also got the chance to use my new Crochet Lite hook on the drive back. I like the hook overall, it is a different feel from the normal steel (metal??) hooks I normally use. The light worked fine until it was just too dark. Maybe if I hadnt been using a dark color yarn I could have still used it once it was pitch black out? I will try this out later this week when we go to Vegas.

I'm A Terrible Mother

2007-09-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Exhibit A:
School started last Tuesday and Wednesday was our first day of homework. I realize as my daughter gets older, homework will become more challenging for her as well as for me. If the first night of 3rd grade homework is any indication of what's to come, we are in big trouble.

Horizon now has long addition and long subtraction as part of homework each night. The section is called mixed review. Last year, her and I did all her English homework, while her dad helped her with the math portion. Maybe this is where I went wrong. Assuming something labeled "review" meant just that, I wanted Horizon to do it on her own. After she finished, I checked her math and found every one to be wrong. Here is where the breakdown starts. I dont know if she was supposed to have learned this last year and my expecting her to do this is not unheard of, or if the teacher just wanted to see what they knew and she should not have already known this. Granted, if I had helped her math last year, I would know this. We fought. Do you know this? No. Are you supposed to know this? I dont know. Was this in your books last year? Maybe. My frustration level rises. Ok.... well, let's try and see if this jogs your memory. I help her separate the problems into ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands columns. I remind her to carry a one or subtract a one. She does one or two successfully, then forgets how to do it all over again. I was not meant to be a teacher. By the time her and I have finished these problems, she is on the verge of tears and I have a blinding migraine. My husbands spends 10 minutes with her two days later and all of a sudden she is a math wiz and they are playing games with it. Shoot me.

Exhibit B:
Sunday we buy her Halloween costume, another bad mom story for another time, and then we stop by Target. At Target, the poop hits the fan. We are walking up the escalator and her foot catches on the lip of the stair. She trips, falls forward on her knee and starts to cry. My daughter is not normally a crier when it comes to falling. I am worried. I drag her aside and check out her knee. I almost lose my lunch. Her knee is missing a large chunk and it looks like the grated escalator has chewed up her knee. Blood is now pouring down her leg and I think I am going to be violently ill. I tell my husband to stay with her, I speed racer to the bathroom grab towels run back out. She is now the center of A Scene, with frantic employees, my frantic husband, and my screaming daughter. I throw the towels at my husband, grab the car keys and again, mad dash to the parking lot. I could have run a marathon in seconds flat with the adrenaline that had taken over my body. I park the car out front, as my husband comes carrying my poor crying bleeding child out of Target. I drive no less than 90 to the hospital, run into the ER and break down. The nurse helps her to the back, puts a temporary pad on her knee and is trying unsuccessfully to get information out of me. It doesnt look good to an 8 year old when her mother is sobbing. I cant answer questions, Horizon is crying more watching mom cry, and the nurse is just trying to calm me now. I finally manage to stop sobbing and they numb my daughters leg. Now we have an excrutiating wait for the doctor. Again, my super husband comes to the rescue and distracts my daughter with, yes, math. They sit and practice long addition and subtraction keeping her suitably distracted so that the doctor can stitch her up. 6 stitches and some frozen yogurt later she is happy and now excited to show off her new bandaid. Thank god for my husband, I would have been a vomiting crying sorry mess.

Oh yeah, to calm my frazzled nerves I lined the fat bottom bag last night. So much for being a crochet focused blog....

Success!

2007-09-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

I did it.

Nearly 13 hours of drive time was blissfully spent crocheting. I finished Wyatt's blanket. I also finished the main piece for the fat bottom bag. I didnt get to the light and lively, the star blanket took much longer than I anticipated as it got bigger. I bought some really pretty fabric to line the FBB and I may try the new tutorial I found online to line it.

Motivated by progress, once I was at home I did add a few rows on the light and lively. I havent touched it since of course, but that's because school has started. Now, instead of being blissfully unaware of the time of day I have to manage drop off time, pick up time, homework time, bath time, dinner time and bed time. Crochet time seems to lose out until we find our rhythm. On the subject of school time, here is Horizon on the first day of school. She is a fashionista. She had to have the one strap backpack and the leopard shoes. Nearly every item we bought had to have pink in it, and she had to make sure her lunch box matched her backpack. I have no idea where she gets this from. I am lucky if my outfit matches on a day to day basis. She has hers planned down to the accessories for each day. Our days together changed with the start of school also, so now I may have more crochet time. We'll see...

Neglected Bloggerdoodle Part Deux

2007-08-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

I always vow to be better and still I suck. In my defense, it has been a busy crochet time.

I managed to start, and finish, a birthday gift for my coworker. I made a Q hook Charger colored blanket. The picture looks a bit wonky, both yellow stripes are the same color. Here is a better picture, you can also see the FPDC in the pattern really well on the color change. I used a pattern from Quick and Easy Q Hook Afgans. I needed something that would work up quick and still be sturdy. My coworker loved it, luckily our office is air conditioned. She wrapped herself in the blanket and wore it nearly all day.

I also managed to finish the Lady Bug Afghan. I really liked the end result on the blanket. It turned out super thick and soft and the lady bug was cute and easy. I freeformed the lady bug after consulting a pattern I found online and not liking the end result.

We are heading to Arizona this weekend to finally see my in laws house. They have had this house for 2 or more years now and we still havent made the trek to see it. We are awful people.

It will be nice to get out of town and relax. Hubby will golf with dad and I will shop with my mother in law. They keep telling my daughter about this cool indoor pool out there so she will get to show off her new swim skills for them. The best part of this trip is 12 uninterrupted hours of drive time which means crochet time!!!!!! I am excited about the mini vacation, I am excited about seeing the house, I am most excited about the crochet time though. My mini August list is not near as done as I would like. Hopefully I will be able to finish the 3 remaining projects on the list. The star-ghan is about 60% done, and the light and lively is about 30% done. If I can finish those two on the way out maybe, that will leave the 6 hours on the way back for a FBB.

On a more random note, can you imagine any better way to spend the summer than making water angels with your child? I can't.

Poor Neglected Bloggerdoodle

2007-08-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I have neglected my bloggerdoodle. It's upsetting, however as no one really reads this yet, I dont believe I have upset my fan base. When I am famous though, I will try harder to maintain this much better. This is a busy crafty crafty month for moi. I think I am going to have to have a Mini List, sort of an addendum to The List. Let's see, WIP's for August are:

Light and Lively Tank - purely selfish no due date
LadyBug Blankie - Jackie's Niece, due by end of August
Wyatt's Dodger Star Blankie - Due August 23rd
Cynthia's Birthday Gift, no idea what yet - Due August 17th
Julie's Purple FBB - no real due date, want it done before September if possible

I think that's all that I am working on. I did bust out a quick scarf for my boss' birthday, made out of Fiesta Homespun. I just did a quick double crochet, nothing too fancy, I only had one night to complete. I tried to do the drop stitch scarf pattern from Crochet me, but I think the ribbony yarn I bought was kinda crappy. I wasnt happy with the color palette to begin with, so I wasnt super crushed to give up on it and just use something way better texturally.

Now for all the cool pictures of what I have going on. I have started the Light and Lively, even though I have had to put it on the back burner since I have stuff that is actually due. I have gotten the bra triangles done, and I have done the 2 rows of double crochet to attach them. Of course, I did that after I took the pictures :) Everyone said the pattern was funky sized, and boy is it ever. I started on the triangles and went up to a large size on those. Then I started on the band to attach them and a small was HUGE. I am no little girl here, so it's been a bit of a trial with the large top and altered small band. It is still a bit loose around the band, it has to be if I intend on putting it over my head to put it on. I am hoping when I attach the straps it will hold the back up a bit, I really dont want to frog this again.

I also have the LadyBug blanket in the works. Naturally, after I took the photos, I worked on it more. I am closer to 3/4 of the way done now, if I hadnt accidentally bought Baby Clouds Saturday instead of Baby Boucle, I would be done. I am little worried about the edging, the blanket is being worked up in double strand, Boucle with Baby Soft, and I am not sure if a shell edge will work in double strand? We'll see how it goes.

I forgot to take updated photos of Wyatt's blanket and I havent started Cynthia's birthday gift or Julie's purse yet. Wyatt's blanket is a bit hard to work on, I stored some hemp/twine type stuff in the same yarn bag for a week and now the blanket smells funny. I havent fabreezed it yet, I need to so I can continue to work on it. Once its finished I can just throw in the wash if the smell hasnt faded.

I think that's it for now, I have been really busy trying to play catch up on Horizon's scrapbook also. Once school starts, I have two vacations planned that should allow for some crochet time and my days off hopefully will be a little less busy!

HARRY POTTER DAY!!!!

2007-07-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

I am in nerd heaven. The last and final book comes out tonight at midnight. My stepmom and I are going to geek out and head to the book store party. I may not be able to make it to midnight, but if she decides she can, I am going to try. If I dont pick the book up tonight I will get it tomorrow morning at 8am when the bookstore opens.

I am also excited because I am having a crochet gathering tomorrow morning! 3 of my coworkers and a couple of other friends and I are going to our local coffee shop and sharing our latest WIP's as well as helping each other out with patterns. I bought some pink sugar and cream (on sale this week!!) and I am going to attempt to make the Light and Lively tank, the Craftster crochetalong really has me motivated!

To top off my excitement, I actually updated The List with all the pictures I have. I put the pictures of the baby girl and baby boy blanket. This pattern was from A Year Of Baby Afghans Book 3 . It is done in a unique single crochet/double crochet sort of stitch, with a double crochet last row few stitches behind sort of deal. Here is a close up of the stitch, its pretty and made for a really soft lovely blankie.

While downloading the pictures I decided I should include a random wedding photo, because, well I can. It's nice to go through them every so often and remember why you spent a fortune for the photographer. This is a great picture, because we are so freaking excited it's over. Also, my poor bridesmaids were apparently standing under a ginormous human eating spider that appeared to be bride hungry and they can now run away. Also, its just really beautiful down at the bay and you can see both of our families standing there supporting us.

Back to crochet, now that the scarves are done, I can finish the Dodger star pretty quickly. I am going to make another baby blanket for a coworkers niece, then Light and Lively time! The baby blanket is for a nursery done in the cutest lady bug theme. I think I am going to use double strands of pink yarn, some baby soft, and a some baby clouds maybe, and then crochet lady bugs separately and sew them on. I dont want to use red and black in the blanket, I am afraid it will be a bit too bold.

This week I may also try to whip up a ribbon scarf, something quick, cheap and easy. Ribbon yarn is on sale a Michaels, and there is a drop stitch scarf pattern on CrochetMe that I saw that might work up pretty quickly. My boss' birthday is next Friday and she hinted not too lightly that we should get her something. Also, Horizon is camping all week, so I will be a lonely mom on Wednesday with extra time.

I will take my camera tomorrow and take some pictures of our crochet goodness and hopefully put them up this week.

Dork-tastic

2007-07-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter is out! I saw it on Tuesday night at the midnight showing. It was great! Not my favorite Harry Potter movie, and no where close to the book, but good nonetheless. I cried a bit at the end, I am an incredible sap when it comes to movies. I finished one of the scarves in time also! I did not wear it to the movie however, my husband might not have taken me then. I started another matching one, hopefully to be done in a few days. My stepmom and I are going to dork out at the Grand Hallows Ball, aka the book release party at Borders.

I have done very little crocheting recently, very sad. It's summer and the usual lament of too hot to sit with a lap full of yarn applies. I am really trying to finish the scarves though and then the star blanket so I can start on something for me. I really want to do the light and lively tank, after seeing all the success on the Craftster crochetalong. My LYS has the oddest hours, I am pretty sure it is only open when I am at work. I want to go and get some new yarn, I have no real project in mind.

My daughter got her hair cut this weekend, she chopped off all her hair. Here is her before, after, and another after. It's going to be a busy July, there won't be a ton of time to relax and crochet. This weekend is my work picnic, next weekend is a baby shower, and the weekend after that is the IB sand castles. Luckily, the baby shower blanket has been done for some time now. I still have yet to take pictures and update The List with said pictures of course. My daughter is going camping during the last week of July, instead of moping around and being lonely, maybe I will drown my sorrows in yarn and crochet! My two nephews' birthdays are this month also, they will get store bought goodies though.

Saturday the 21st I am having a crochet gathering, I will definitely have some good pictures and projects from that. There are 4 girls at work that I have "hooked" and one of my brothers friends as well. I will try not to ignore my blog and keep it updated with all my nifty craftyness!

Shameless Mom Bragging

2007-06-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

So, time for the shameless mom brag. Here is Horizon at the Del Mar Fair. All the prerequisites have been met. She has her face painted, she has already had sugar, she has been on the rides, and she is holding the prize she won at the games. Here she is on the teacups. The teacups make me a little woozy but my child loves them. They are always the first thing she wants to go on at Disneyland, and they were the first ride she wanted to go on at the fair. I had a blast at the fair, I tried fried snickers for the first time and I tried to convince my husband I needed a 4 foot tall stuffed penguin (yes I have a small penguin obsession). My husband tasted nearly everything and went on the the slingshot ball type ride.

I havent crocheted much this past week or so, hence the lag in the blog. I was busy for a bit with the fair, and fathers day and my brothers graduation.

Craftster crochet group has the newest challenge posted and I toyed around with some ideas for that also. The latest theme is Eco Crochet. I wanted to use recycleable materials, besides grocery bags and make something but my ideas weren't translating into the physical really well. I cut up some 2 liters and tried to punch holes in them and crochet them together with grocery bag yarn into something resembling a plant holder and that didnt work. Then I tried for a purse, and that didnt work too well either. I wasnt ecstatic about the theme from the beginning and while the prize was great, a lack of motivation still existed. I haven't been working on my projects really either. Here is the star blanket, I think I only added 2 more rows maybe. I also worked a bit more on the trinity HP scarf but forgot to take a picture. I started an additional HP scarf, this one in a G hook also, a little slimmer in size and just HDC instead of the star stitch. Of course, after I took the pictures and uploaded them I was all of a sudden motivated to crochet and added more rows to the newest HP scarf. I think I am on the 2nd block of red by now.

I would say I will try and crochet a bit more this week but I doubt it. Tonight I have to go down to Little Italy to pick up some ladyfingers and some marsala for a tiramisu I have to assemble. I also have to make Emeril's sausage stuffed bread tonight as well. These are both for a work potluck tomorrow, an early 4th of July celebration. I am missing out on the gym tonight so tomorrow night I will have to work out a bit harder. 4th of July is next week and I still have no plans yet. Whatever I do it will probably not involve crocheting, especially if the beach or pool is part of the plans. I will try and crochet if I can though, the HP movie is the week after next and I really want to have the scarves done.

One More Down...

2007-06-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

Yup, finished another one. This time I finished the Blue P Hook Ripple that I had in progress. I will update the list as soon as I can. This afghan is for my daughters teacher, and is shown on my rocking chair in my crochet corner. Or more accurately, my husbands rocking chair, in my crochet corner. Its my little spot in my living room, I have a couple pattern books and a wicker basket to hold my latest WIP or some extra yarn. Every year I have made a blanket for her teacher, just to say thank you for managing my monster for the year and preparing her for the next year. If I get the energy I will try to dig up the pictures (if I have them :S ) of her kindergarten and first grade teachers' afghans.

I have another couple WIP's that I started this past weekend, just what I need! I think this brings my total to 3, with the living room blanket still ongoing. I started a Dodger themed star blanket for Wyatt, and I started one of the Harry Potter scarves. I started and frogged the HP scarf quite a few times actually. I wanted something that would work up quick, but not be too lacy or hole-y. I started with an I hook and tried HDC and the trinity stitch. The HDC left holes, and the trinity did as well. I then tried single crochet which was nice and sturdy but would have taken me forever. I moved to a G hook (I think my most used hook in possession) and tried the trinity and it looks nice I think. Not a perfect match of the movie, but any HP fan will know the scarf. Here is a closeup of the trinity, as best as my little digital could get it. I really like the trinity stitch I think it looks like a little star. A few more rows and I will switch to red and start striping.

The Del Mar Fair is this weekend. Yes, San Diegans, I will always call it the Del Mar Fair, not the San Diego County Fair. I love the fair, it is one of my absolute favorite yearly traditions. I am excited for all the junk food, the shopping, the games, and the crochet I get to see. I had high hopes that I would enter an item into the fair this year, but the theme didnt speak to me. I also had too much on my plate, to try and craft a project within 4 weeks. It's long past the due date, I feel a little tiny glimmer of regret, maybe next year. Horizon is dancing at the fair this year also, so I will try to post a shameless mom brag picture next week.

Freaking Hat

2007-06-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

This hat should have been done ages ago. Truth is I should have just stopped and gave up. This hat tortured me. Its finally done. The red paper boy hat for my wonderful aesthetician.

The pattern at first seemed to be written in japanese. I had about as much trouble with this pattern as the infamous Star Blanket pattern (any craftster knows what I am talking about here). Once I finally got the pattern wrestled down to something I could process, I ended up with something so ginormous it wouldnt have fit any human I have ever met. I frogged. I started again, size smaller needle. Again, frogged. Started a 3rd time, went a few rows short of the pattern increase, then picked up the pattern again, and yes, frogged. Finally, I did what any frustrated and creative individual would do, I made it up as I went along. I dont like the hat just for the mere trouble it gave me. I almost feel bad for giving it to her. I want her to have it, and I truly truly hope she likes it, but if she doesnt I dont think my feelings will be hurt.

Without further ado, The Hat. Ok, not the best picture but it's hard to take pictures of yourself without looking like a goo. Maybe this is better, The Hat on the the cat :)

All in all, its been a very unproductive week or so. I should have finished more, I had all my wisdom teeth pulled and was laid up for 3 days. I should have done more. I didnt. I finished the hat and the mixed blue afghan I had in progress for my daughters school teacher. I will post pictures of that and update The List as soon as I add the tassles. Next I will make 3 Gryffindor scarves so I can have those done by the time the movie is out. After that I think I am going to make a star blanket in Dodger colors for Wyatt, my best friends son.

It seems that all the local crafty stores have yarn sales this week. I was SUPER excited. I went to the first one Sunday and they didnt have the crochet lite hooks they advertised. I went to the 2nd one today and they had a horrible selection of yarn. I am totally disappointed. I may try the mom and pop store this Saturday, its hard though, its usually pretty pricey.

I will try and post more this weekend, I am volunteering at my work's golf tournament this weekend and should have plenty of time to at least start something!

Crochet Deadlines

2007-05-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well I did it.
I got thru the busy week. Saturday, my husband and I made dinner for my in laws. Sunday my brother, daughter and I strolled around the sicilian festival and then went home and made a double batch of biscottis. Monday night I made cupcakes, and I made it back to yoga for the first time in a couple weeks. Tuesday I took my stepmom a little get well plant, and Wednesday I made a single batch of biscotti. I also attended made it to the gym and my daughters multicultural potluck (it was the cutest thing ever, they sang 3 Little Birds by Bob Marley) and I finished my coworkers blanket by the baby shower! She loved it. Of course I was up at 11pm Wednesday night weaving in all the ends, watching American Idol of course.

Onto the next project now. I will add the finished pictures tonight, and hopefully remember to update The List.

My next item is (drum roll please) a red paperboy hat. This deadline is a bit different then the blanket. I am beginning to think I work a bit better with a deadline though. Without a deadline projects have a tendency to just sit and collect dust, ahem, see living room blanket on The List. This next project is for my aesthetician, so in order to have beautifully arched eyebrows, I must finish said hat. After the hat, which honestly shouldnt take too long, I am not sure what's next. Of course I have a plethora of things I should do, what I want to do is a different story. I am thinking of maybe trying a tank top this summer too. I love this one from the May (?) Family Circle Easy Crochet issue.

This weekend I will be out of town, happy memorial day to me! Sunday I will drive up to Ventura with daughter in tow to go impose on, I mean visit my bestest friend. We have absolutely nothing planned, maybe some beach time, otherwise CHILL. I may get the hat done this weekend with lots of wonderful down time at hand.

Bloggerdoodle

2007-05-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am always jealous of all my fellow crafters and their wonderful blogs, so I decided to start one. I am hoping this will help keep me accountable for my crochet projects and this will also give me a place to brag endlessly when I am done :) The first place I should start is with My List. I will try to keep this list as updated as possible with all current, finished and pending works for 2007, as well as WIP pics and status. Without further ado, My List:

Oh wow. Just getting it all down seems like a lot. As soon as I get up and working on this, hopefully the finished items will turn into links with pictures. Of course, everytime a new magazine comes out or I buy a new book, this list seems to grow. Eventually, I would like to have a list somewhere on this blog with all my books on it. That should help me keep track of what I own, and if anyone has any questions on a book and I own it, I would be happy to give you my opinion.

Now, my time to unload. This is going to be a busy week. My husbands family is coming over tomorrow, my husband wanted to make prime rib. Of course, that means I am making side dishes, and cleaning like a crazy woman all day. Sunday is the Italian Festival, and my husbands North County golf tournament. Monday is my sisters birthday (one of 14 birthdays this month :) and I will be making cupcakes to take into work on Tuesday for a coworker. Tuesday I will be making biscotti to take into my daughters class on Wednesday. She is having a multi cultural potluck that her dad was kind enough to volunteer me for. Wednesday I will have to put something together for a baby shower/potluck my work is having on Thursday to celebrate my coworkers 1st child. She is adopting a 4 year old little boy, this is also the day the blanket must be done, so that I can bring it in for her shower/potluck. I think next Friday I can finally unwind, of course with PIRATES 3!!!!!!!!!

Ok, now to work on pictures for the list........