Fiber Kitten's Tangled Skeins

Long Time

2005-09-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

So it's been over a month since I've posted. I have no excuse except laziness. I have been knitting and crocheting a lot in preparation for a craft faire that I am going to be selling items at. I hope to make some money with my crocheted shawls. I love making them and everyone that has seen them likes them a lot.

I got a giftie from my Secret Pal. I received some Aracuna Wool yarn in a peachy color, a green and a purple. A set of stitch markers, some chocolate that was a little melty when it got here and the most divine smelling candle. I also received a neat book called Knitting Pretty. I haven't started anything with the wool yet, but it will probably become some sort of felted bag. Thanks so much Eyeleen

I should get around to pictures of my stuff in the next century. I hope. All for now.

Back Tack Arrived

2005-07-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I finally recieved my back tack giftie. I have no camera currently so you will have to use your imagination. I got a notions holder made out of toile blue fabric and some folding scissors and floss and variegated thread. Then she sent me four fat quarters and a flower pin made of mohair. And two balls of wool yarn that will be perfect for a hat. Pictures will be forthcoming. I'll take pics of the stuff my secret pal gave me at the same time. I claim amnesia. I use the items but forgot to take the picture duh.

In other news, I am trying to start on Christmas stuff. I'm crafting at twice my normal speed, normal is about sloth speed. Now it's Ninja Sloth speed which is much quicker. I've been making hats and some other easy projects, because I know that by the time it gets to Christmas I will have forgotten someone and that way I'll have a backup. After the spate of small presents I will move on to bigger stuff, like kids and husbands. They always warrant things like...sewing. I'll probably spend more making everything than if I bought it and I don't care. I love giving things that I've put an effort into.

Back Tack

2005-07-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

I finished my back tack project and sent it off to its eager recipient Absinthe Knits this last week. I made my own unique version of a notions holder.

Say Hello to the Craft Monster!

This little guy holds needles, stitch markers, pins and any other assortment of small notions items. I had so much fun creating him for this. The fabric I recieved was just wonderful for what I had in mind. I have to make a few more of these for Christmas. I need to make my own little buddy soon too.

I also finished the haversack for my husband. Here are a couple of pre-felting pics.

Even after felting it hangs to just past his hip. I knit the strap way too long. It will get a nip and tuck in the future. Before the boy has to use it again.

I also whipped out a crocheted shawl and 3 hats this last weekend. I will hopefully have pics of them soon.

Secret Pal: What would you recommend I make out of the yarn you sent me. I haven't found anything that I think would suit it well. I love it but I want something other than a hat or scarf that is easy to knit and useful.

More later.

Giftie in the Mail

2005-06-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

I got the most unexpected package just this weekend. My secret pal had sent out a gift to me. I was so excited when I saw a package sitting on the desk when I came home from work. I got 3 skeins of Koigu in a gorgeous purple mixed color. I have to figure out what to make with it now. I feel some insane urge to maybe try to make socks out of it. I don't even know if I could make socks, but they seem like that's what they should be. I also got the coolest mints, those new altoids fruit ones and some neato Burts's Bees stuff. I would have a picture but the computer is currently in the shop and I'm using a different one that isn't mine. As soon as I have it back I'll post a picture of my loot and some of the stuff I've been working on lately.

2005-06-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I am getting to the point that I prefer natural fibers for the most part. I have kids though and ease of care for some items is what I need. I love most yarn, but I do avoid scratchy yarn, if it would make me itch I don't buy it.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I own a drop spindle and quite a bit of roving. I haven't done anything with it in quite a while though. Crochet, yep. I actually learned to crochet before I learned to knit. It has it's merits also so I am prone to switching back and forth to suit my needs.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Nothing that would cause me an issue. I don't think you'll be sending me mold or alder trees, they don't make yarn out of those things yet.

4. How long have you been knitting?
Probably about 4 years. I can't remember for sure. I know I wasn't knitting when I had my first baby, but I think I started picking it up around the time of the second one.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do but it is horribly old and I should probably just make a new one.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Clove. I got the most delicious soap, a clove and mint ZUM ZUM Bar from an exchange this year that I love to death.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
All of them are sweet. I like chocolate in any form. Sour candy is my weakness currently and the more sour the better.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I sew, dabble in jewlery making, and am just getting into some clay work.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
My tastes vary widely and I'm open to checking out whatever you might like. I could find something new that I never would have found on my own.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I'm drawn to reds and purples. Autumn colors, though I can't wear them. I am not very fond of yellow or baby shades.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I have a husband, 2 kids, 2 cats and one dog.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
To be able to not worry about every little thing and spend more time doing what I want with the people that I love. I would love to work for myself someday.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I am fond of Lamb's Pride for felting. I like Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, it is a lovely cotton and I love Paton's Cha Cha since it is such a soft novelty yarn. I have a love affair with silk yarn and I have a bit of quivit that I have to spin up. I like my fibers touchable and not rough.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Anything rough. I also don't like paper yarn and most flag or railroad yarns are just itchy.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
I want to make a sweater but am only about 4 inches into it. I am also committed to making my husband a bag. I love things I can knit in the round because I don't have to concentrate too hard to make anything.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I like making felted bags, hats, scarves with unique yarns, and stuffed toys.

17. What are you knitting right now?
I am knitting a bag for my husband, 2 different sweaters and a care bear.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
Not for me.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
I prefer circualr needles. I also prefer metal over any other material they can be made out of.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Addi turbos are my favs. They all have a use, but I prefer metal.

21. Are you a sock knitter?
No

22. How did you learn to knit?
My mother and my best friend both taught me.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
4 years I think.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I love the pink panther and I collect sheep things.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween

26. Is there anything that you collect?
Yarn, fabric, sheep.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I don't have any but I keep thinking I should just subscribe to them since I always end up buying them anyway.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Can't think of any. I am a prolific book purchaser and usually buy the ones I want as soon as I see them.

So there you go. A little bit of info about me. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. Now off to work and fighting my cold some more.

Pictures

2005-05-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

So here are all of my current projects, I think. I'm suffering from more startitis.
This pile of raw goods is my starting point for backtrack which I am so looking forward to working on. I'm currently forming ideas.

This is my mother in laws' backpack. I may use this pattern again. It works out really well. Visions of this bag made out of cherry fabric or the cool pin-up cowgirls keep going through my head.

I made a buttonhole bag...and altered the pattern to suit my knitting quirks. I used my rusty skill of picking up stitches, note to self...you knit too tight loosen up.

Yet another felted bag, still missing it's zipper. It's a gift for a good friend. This bag and the buttonhole one are Lamb's Pride. Felting your knitting in the shower is next to impossible by the way.

This is the Cotton Ease sweater, which may be done by next year. I couldn't make it in just one color...noooo. I'm going to have a million ends to work in.

This is the abandoned sweater. I keep trying to like boucle yarn. Too bad that it hates my knitting and crochet style. I think this will become a shawl worked on big needles. Note the very cute llama and sheep stitch markers my mommy got me for Christmas.

These are Peruvian Highland Wool from Elann in a lovely burnt orange and twilight blue. I also indulged in the vogue knitting book and now must make a sheepy backpack. These things were courtesy of my secret pal, Allie.

This is going to be my new carebear. I am excited to make these for the kids. I even took them to the yarn store to pick out their own yarn. It is currently on hold since I'm devoting all of my time to R's haversack.

And these are my soon to be stitch markers. I am having more fun making markers. I'll probably never need them all. But these called to me, I especially like the little kitty heads and the eye beads. Quirky stitch markers are my type of thing.

Within the next couple of days I'll post more pictures. I forgot some things and now I'm too tired to take more pics, load them up, copy them over, type more. It will wait for another day. Maybe a finished haversack if I keep knitting it, and the stitch markers from the exchange which I forgot to photograph.

Silly test

2005-05-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Freya
Indeed, you are 83% erudite, 91% sensual, 50% martial, and 66% saturnine. Freya, twin sister of Frey, is a member of the Vanir family, the Norse clan of Fertility Gods. Like her counterparts, Aphrodite, Isis, Venus, and Ishtar (Greek, Egyptian, Roman and Indian mythology), she concerned herself with sex and all that goes with it.

She was quite fond of cats, by the way. In fact, she was said to travel
about in a magnificent chariot drawn by her two regal black cats named
Bygul and Trjegul (Pronunciation? You're on your own...) that were
rumoured to be possessed. After serving Freya for 7 years, the cats
were rewarded by being turned into witches, disguised as black cats.
Even many of her personal traits seem cat-like. For instance, she
always wore a brilliant jewel studded collar symbolizing her authority
over the fiery aspect of sexuality.

Besides being the Goddess of love, cats, the moon, magic, and
of course sex, Freya was also skilled in a form of magic called
"seithr" (meaning "sayer" or "seer") which consisted of putting oneself
into a deep meditative trance so that the secrets of the future might
be revealed. She also owned a feather coat which she could use to fly
between the worlds.

Isn't that amusing. I'm a fertility goddess. I always knew that was what I was, now someone's silly test thinks I am too. On another note I am taking pictures tonight. I received my fabric for BACK TRACK and now need to get started on that. Haversack is a pattern of my own making ie, I'm freeballing it. We'll see how it works.

Long Time No Post

2005-05-17T00:50:00.000-07:00

Right now the camera is charging. I have stuff to take pictures of like my cute little stitch markers from the exchange. The yarn and book I got from Elann courtesy of my secret pal and a buttonhole bag that I made in the interim. I have currently laid aside all of my knitting projects to make my husband a felted haversack for a historical recreation event. I'm also working on a backpack for my mother in law and an army of choo-choo kitties for various people. So tommorow pictures of all my crafting mayhem.

I've been working and knitting.

2005-04-04T23:21:00.000-07:00

I have been a busy little girl. This last week I finished a scarf on large needles to prove to my mom that I could do it in an evening. It only took me about 3 and a half hours. I used some lovely Patons yarn called Bohemian. I am thinking about using it for a pattern from Vogue Knittings' Winter issue. The yarn they use is Takhi's Ghost Print, which I love but the price is prohibitive.

I also cast on for my first sweater. I only had to swatch about a dozen times. I'm still off a little and I'm hoping it works out. I'm making the largest size using a Boucle yarn that Jo-Anns came out with recently. It will probably take me a year to make a sweater. That's why my eyes are already straying to other projects. Oh well, I will make a sweater this year. It's my goal.

Argh!

2005-03-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

I said I would post Wednesday. I am now posting Friday. Only two days worth of delay. I've been busy at work again. It looks like our inventory score will be good though. We busted our asses over it this year since we failed last year.
I have been knitting like mad. In the last week and a half I've finished 4 scarves, started a fifth and started a bag. I still have to finish my secret pal gift. It needs hand sewing to finish it and I have been into the knitting not the sewing lately.

Here are the pictures of new stuff.

The Knit Picks yarn as a Seaman's Scarf. If I ever do this pattern again I will add more stitches on either end. It ends up short and only suited for a woman at this length.

This is what my husband calls the martian moss scarf. It's bright green homespun and confetti fun fur.

These are two left over balls of yarn from scarves I made. Currently my MIL has the scarves at work trying to sell them. I already sold one that I don't have a second ball of to show you. I knit all 3 scarves in an evening each. It makes me feel industrious.

This is the Mardi Gras scarf. I have a friend who loves purple and extra long scarves. I think it will be for her birthday. I'm using Paton's Cha Cha and Lions' Microspun.

Two skeins of Paton's Up Country joined my stash. They were on sale at Michaels and I figured they were highly feltable. Don't know what it will be yet, but I couldn't resist.

Clicky, clicky. I've wanted one of these for a while but they are always too expensive. I used a coupon on it at Michaels and it ended up like 3.50. My local yarn store sells them for 12.00 each.

I think I've been knitting so many scarves since I can either sell them or give them as gifts. They are also instant gratification. I don't have the time to knit anything big at the present. I did get a new book for knit purses that I am hoping to use soon. I'm also still hoping to knit the ruffles scarf from the borrowed Scarf Style book I have at the moment. I want to knit a sweater or a top, something big, but I need to be more settled in my new position first. Sometimes I hate that life gets in the way of my knitting.

I have a cool secret pal.

2005-03-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

I was gone most of last week with work and family related stuff. I know I don't update this blog often enough. I keep working on projects, they just never seem to make it onto this page. My mom even gave me a knitting journal to keep track of the things I make and I just haven't managed to put anything in it. So here it goes... the recent FO and my new project.

I cast on last night for a Short Row Seamans Scarf using the brand spanking new yarn that I can home to from my Secret Pal. Yes there was a packing slip and no I didn't look at it, but my husband knows your name and promised not to tell me. I love this yarn. It is the first Knit Picks yarn I have used and now I'm trying to decide what else from their line to buy. It knits up quickly on my needles and feels so good in my hands.

My finished object is a Twisted Rib Watch Cap which I also took from this blog. I made this from Noro's Silk Garden. I altered the pattern some so it didn't have a fold up brim and is just a skull cap and it only took one skein. This is color 39 which R bought me for my birthday this last November. It took me a while to figure out what it was going to be. Since I have two more skeins I may have to make a scarf to match it.

As soon as I finish the Knit Picks scarf I need to start on R's felted clogs. The reason the yarn was so expensive is because I bought 40$ in Lambs Pride and another 30$ worth of Paintbox yarn for the top section. He wanted two colors and they didn't have a Lamb's Pride to match the green I picked out in a color he would have liked. I hope they are easy. I am getting better but I still haven't fixed my last mess up.

Poncho power.

2005-02-13T00:59:00.000-08:00

I finished the poncho I was crocheting. It became a care bear poncho. All the chic care bears have ponchos these days. Here is my daughter and "Lollipop bear" with her brand new outfit.

Here is a gratuitous picture of RM with a hat I made her and the scarf that Mouse made her for Christmas.

Now I have to finish my secret pal gift, I'm about half way done and didn't touch it at all today. Then on to my husband's 70$ felted clogs. I let him pick out the yarn, that means I can justify buying it. This will be my first attempt at footwear. I'm going to make it out of Lamb's Pride, my fav felting wool. I'm thinking they may take me a while but I'm really looking forward to trying these out. Everyone who has made these in blogland seems so happy with them.

Current projects

2005-02-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

I've been tired lately. I just quit smoking and I'm edgy most of the time. The kids keep getting up early when I have to go to bed late. I need to get a set schedule that doesn't tire me out so much.

I have been knitting and crocheting in my spare moments.
I actually started a crocheted item that will most likely become a poncho for my daughters's much loved carebear.
I started helping a customer with this particular pattern and couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong so I decided to make my own. Sadly it is sized for a baby and I don't have any of those now. Hence the Carebear gets a poncho.

I also bought myself a knit stitch calendar. I'm hoping it will inspire me to try something more complicated than knit and purl rows. I'm going to try a broken rib stitch with some of the alpaca I have on hand for a scarf.

I'm busily knitting away on a secret pal gift. I'm altering a pattern slightly from the previous item I made from this pattern. I am enjoying knitting this since it's knit in the round and then felted. I like the felting thing. It's fun to see what becomes of all my hard work. I have only ever felted with Lamb's Pride and am kinda set in sticking to it. It's inexpensive and if I were to completely destroy something I was felting I wouldn't be heartbroken.

Secret Pal Survey

2005-02-01T01:19:00.000-08:00

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high- a nd/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
Definitely not all the same. I like most everything but lately I've been particulary attracted to alpaca, mohair, silk and high-end wools.
2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I do a teensy tiny bit of spinning. I started out crocheting and still go back to it for a number of things like afghans.
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Not that I know of.
4. How long have you been knitting?
About 2 years and crocheting 6 years.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do but it needs to be updated. When I update it I'll post a link.
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Black Alchemy Lab's Dragon's Milk and O. Clove scented stuff.
7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
All of them are sweet.
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I work in a fabric and craft store so dabble in sewing, beading and the occasional craft that catches my eye.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like most music. Not too fond of jazz or rap.
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?
I like lots of colors. Lately I've been working with a lot of jewel tones and autumnal colors.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Married, 2 toddlers, 2 cats and 1 dog
12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
To be happy and own my own home and space.
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I like soft, squishy yarn. Wool and alpaca are good. I also like unique yarns and a lot of the hand dyed fibers out there.
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Rough yarn. If it doesn't feel good against my skin I probably won't buy it.
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Getting things done one at a time. I have been knitting scarves lately since they make nice gifts.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Things in the round ie hats, bags.
17. What are you knitting right now?
A multi-directional scarf and an enterlac pouch.
18. What do you think about ponchos?
I think I should finish the one I started for my daughter before Christmas.
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circular
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like Addi Turbos and wood
21. Are you a sock knitter?
I have a sock pattern and the yarn for it, I just haven't done it.
22. How did you learn to knit?
My mom taught me the basic knit stitch and Mouse has filled in other gaps. I am still learning a lot about knitting.
23. How old is your oldest UFO?
About a year and a half old.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I like sheep. Animated...I like cartoons, Jimmy Neutron, the Pink panther, Atomic Betty.
25. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloweeen
26. Is there anything that you collect?
Yarn and fabric, sheep and books.

My neato stuff

2005-01-31T23:50:00.002-08:00

I've been busy...knitting and making stuff to hold my knitting. I have my startitis under control for now. I've been trucking away at my multi-directional scarf. I realized last week that I was adding stitches and had to rip out over a skeins worth of work. Now I'm back on track with that and almost done.

I made myself a knitting bag large enough to hold a small child. It started out as a Butterick pattern but it didn't have enough pockets for my taste. I added 3 extra pockets and found a use for my multi-colored sheepy fabric as a lining.

Then I took an enterlac class at my local yarn store, Alamitos Bay Yarn Co. This was my first class and I dug it. I learned how to make an enterlac pattern, a brioche stitch and that I was purling wrong. I have since fixed my purl. It goes so much quicker now that I'm not screwing it up. I am looking forward to signing up for more classes. Now I just have to wait till their next set of classes. I also did some shopping and picked up some more luscious alpaca yarn and Noro like I used for the enterlac project.

I'm a joiner

2005-01-27T01:29:00.000-08:00

I had to join Secret Pal 4. I had so much fun last time with giving gifts. I enjoyed getting too. So I have to start updating my blog again. I've been knitting, but not writing about it. Part of it is due to the fact that the digital camera will not hold a charge. I like pics with anything I write.

I finished my MIL's scarf and had to rip out the one I'm currently working on. I was knitting on it at two in the morning and the next thing I knew it had gotten wider than it was supposed to be. I pulled out a whole skeins worth of short row work. Really no fun. It made me think that maybe I just wasn't cut out for knitting. After getting Mouses help over the phone I am back to knitting on it again.

I will post my questionaire tommorow night. I have 3 days in a row off coming to me. I'll have time to do things I actually want to do, like sewing a new knitting bag!

My projects

2005-01-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

I have been gone. Christmas is the crazy season in the craft store. I was working 6 day weeks and still am to a certain extent. I've been knitting, but sure not taking pictures. That takes thought and I'm on autopilot and have been for a while. I don't look forward to doing this again next year.

As for knitting I really have been doing it. I knit one of my coworkers a hat in 2 days, which is like a record for me. I am not a fast knitter but I was determined to get it done for her quick. I finished 2 scarves and gave them as gifts this Christmas.

Currently I am knitting my mother in law a scarf, which matches a jacket she made herself. I didn't even realize the yarn I had picked out for this particular scarf was destined to be someones. I was just knitting to knit. Now that it has an owner I am set in getting it done.

My new years resolution as far as knitting is that everything I currently have on knitting needles has to be finished before I start anything else. It is killing me, but I find myself knitting more when I'm just sitting. I have tons of things I want to start.

I signed up to take my first knitting class at the end of January. I'm going to learn enterlac knitting. It takes a ball of Noro Silk Garden and you make a little bag. We'll see if I can play with others while knitting. I also found a local Stitch N Bitch group. I'm hoping to make it to one of their meetings but they only do them the first and third wednesdays of the month. I may never actually make it to one, but now I know there is one in my area.

That's all for now. Maybe I can get the camera to take a charge later and I'll show you some of the things I've been working on. Or maybe it will die again in the middle of picture taking never know around here.

Startitis

2004-12-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

That's right. I have startitis. I have way too many things started and not much finished. I'm having winter angst. I get angsty and start a new project. Currently there are 4 different scarves on needles, a hat, 2 afghans that I just want to forget about and I still yearn to start more.

I have the yarn for a shrug out of Cast On's winter issue. I bought enough Boa in a red and black that I should even have extra. And I bought a 3 pound cone of yarn to make a knit tank top, which will probably take me forever. I think I knit faster in my mind than in reality. So I am now trying to concentrate on one project at a time. I hope to finish my scarves soon. After the first of January I will throw myself into making one thing at a time. I will concentrate on one project at a time. It should be my resolution. I wonder how long I'll stick to that, there are so many things I want to make.

My life as a corporate whore.

2004-11-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

Needless to say, I've been absent from my blog and computer and life in general for a while. As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach I am spending a lot of my time at work, and the time I'm not there I am dealing with kids while thinking about work. I am going to be so happy when the holidays are over and I don't have to train new people or deal with bitchy customers all day (usually complaining about the new workers).

I have been knitting, mostly small stuff. Lots of scarves, because I make them brainless and I can work on them when I'm tired. I abandoned the ribbed hat, because it was frustrating me and instead am making a cell phone cozy.

I went to the FiberFest in Torrance with Mouse. I came home with a load of yarn. I bought rug yarn that will eventually be a felted gift, it softens up nicely when washed. I'm making a multi-directional scarf out of Crystal Palace Roman, which is a gorgeous rayon/cotton blend, which must be a discontinued yarn because I can't find it anywhere on the net. I have also picked up my drop spindle again and am trying futilely to spin something out of Seamus, whom I won at the raffle table.
I always forget that I am better at the drop part than the spin part. I need another lesson.

I also had a birthday, I'm now 26 and don't feel any different. I had Mouse and her DH over for a combined birthday (R's bday is the day before mine). It was great because I got money and went out and spent all of it in a day. I bought some long overdue clothes, a sqooshy turquoise pillow for my legs(side sleeper), the new Stitch & Bitch Nation book and the Sew Easy Knitting Machine. The last was an experiment and I figured for twenty bucks it couldn't be that bad. It's a zippy little knitting machine and RM is fascinated by it.

I also got a present from my Secret Pal, a little pincushion of felted wool, a felted handbag, a sheepy ornament and the coolest Pink Panther CD which is currently in the car stereo. I'll post pics this week. I hate the digital camera, it's too much work when I'm tired. I hope I get one of my own for Christmas. Thats all for now. Back soon I promise.

No pics that I took.

2004-11-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

Need to hunt down the camera and load pictures up. I'm a procrastinator, so sue me. I won't apologize but I will tell you about all the stuff I'm doing. I finshed Halloween sewing and now I tackle Christmas. Only two people on my list are undecided. I probably have close to 20 items to sew. Mostly nightshirts, they seem to be requested by quite a few folks. I make big cuddly snuggly ones out of flannel. Some kids items and a couple of Hawaiin shirts round out the list. And I'm knitting a few things.

I decided to knit one hat and I decided yesterday at the Michaels to knit a couple of easy scarves out of sqooshy yarn. I picked up 2 skeins of Cozi in the Fire Brick color. I also gave in and bought 2 skeins of Fancy Fur in the Stained Glass color.
I'll knit them up as last minute gifts, for anyone I might overlook. It never fails that I am scrambling for a present at the last minute. If I have pre-knit scarves I can just bag them up and go. I now have an excuse to play with easy care fun yarn.

Halloween

2004-10-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

So I've been away from the computer for a week. I am sewing Halloween costumes. I am currently making a dinosaur, a fairy and have already finished a Sally dress. If I finish the other costumes I'll keep working on my costume, a belly dancer, that I started last year.

Knitting Info: Not much knitting going on. I am working on a ribbed hat and a garter stitch scarf. I finished my secret pal gift and just need to put one final touch on it. Then it's off in the mail. I'll post on Halloween with pictures of all my finished costumes.

My suck ass weekend.

2004-10-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

So as you all know I've been frantically sewing and trying to finish lots of projects for the craft faire I was doing on the 16th. Long story short I didn't sell one fucking thing. Not one. The only thing that was good was I bartered with another vendor. She wanted one of my purses, I got a neat handmade necklace for my mom for Christmas.

Of course the fact that I didn't sell one thing did not make me happy. I now have a huge bucket of completed stuff, that is still taking up space in my house. Some of it will be given out for Christmas, the rest will wait until friends start breeding again, since a lot of the items are baby things. The bright spot in my day was that Mouse came to hang out with me. She didn't sell anything either. Annie, the woman I work with sold 2 $2 items. We were a bunch of losers at the craft faire. One reassuring thing though was that people said that they liked my stuff. The lady across from us sold almost nothing, same with the lady next to us. Annie and I have decided we will submit our stuff to the Wally World craft faire. They get an amazing amount of foot traffic and hopefully we will sell something there.

Saturday evening, the boy got a head wound. A fell off of the couch and gouged his head. I freaked out, which made RM freak out. Luckily R kept it together and we took care of my copiously bleeding baby. So glad that R is the medical professional and not me. I mean I didn't faint or anything, but panicking is more of what I do. Two upset toddlers at once is too much when my heart is trying to burst out of my chest.

Sunday...Disneyland. It rained Saturday night which usually makes for a good day at the Mouses house. I was right. Not too crowded. Nothing like a 15 minute wait to put you in a good mood. That is like practically walking onto a ride. Note to those with toddlers, Haunted Mansion= baby meltdown. I left after waiting in line for 15 minutes and stepping into the elevator. The dark and screaming had A climbing me trying to get away. I'm just glad this wasn't my first trip or anything.
That was the end of rides for one baby for the day. Next time we'll try again, but with his much loved flashlight. I believe in conquering fears.

I am also blithely knitting along on my Secret Pal 3 gift. I got a good chunk of time to knit at the craft faire and now that I don't have "make stuff" stress, I am finding my knitting enjoyable again. Of course I do have 3 Halloween costumes to make in like a week. Oh well, here comes more stress.

I'm a cat!

2004-10-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

Found this neat quiz on one of the blogs that I read. Amazingly enough the results fit.

You are a "Neko" (cat)

What Japanese Smiley Are You?

Quizzes always crack me up. They are usually really random and the results are strange. But I am a cat, ask anyone who knows me well.

Cool stuff.

2004-10-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

So I'm still hard at work on craft faire sellables, but this week I got the coolest gift. My secret pal sent me a box that looked like this...

I was of course excited. Tea right, wrong. I got a neato sock knitting kit.

And the yarn to go with it which looks like this...

Now I've never attempted to knit socks, but I'm willing to try it out. I love that she included the bamboo needles with my kit. As soon as I finish some of my christmas crafting and my own secret pals gift I'm hopping right on these socks. Cool stuff for me to work on. How great is that.

Pictures finally.

2004-10-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

Okay not a lot of content, but lots of pictures. I'm trying to make stuff, but life keeps getting in the way. When I have time most days I'm just too tired. Have to get my butt in gear if I expect to make any money at this craft faire. So here submitted for your approval...stuff I have made.

Busy Busy Busy

2004-09-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

That is how I have been lately. I go to work I come home I try to craft in between all of it. Since taking my children out of pre-school I am spending a lot of my free time breaking up screaming matches. RM is 4 going on 30 and A is just laid back, until she pisses him off. I have my hands full. I want to post more, but I rarely get the chance.

Work is picking up, this being costuming season. From here on out I expect to be answering lots of questions. I never realized just how many people who don't know a lick about sewing come into a fabric shop expecting you to walk them through an elaborate costume. Someday I hope to work for myself, not a large corporation. Or maybe just be independently wealthy, that would fix the problems.

R starts his actual hospital work on Monday, which is going to be hard. We are never going to see each other. Family is watching the munchkins between the time I leave for work and R gets home, but I wish I had a better solution. They need to get back to school, but I just can't afford it.

I'm horribly conflicted about my childcare situation. I want to be able to school them at home, but I just don't know if I would be giving them the best education that I could. I let them watch way too much tv so that I can get stuff done. They are wonderful, smart children, and I'm only a little biased in that assesment. I want the best for them. Isn't that what anybody wants for their children.

On the craft front I've been pretty steadily busy. I am hoping to be able to fill a 2'x6' table with stuff I have made. The only problem is that I keep getting distracted by the things I want to work on first. I've been trying to push aside the knitting I want to do, like a couple of hats and a gift for my secret pal. I've made a couple of baby blankets, and some purses, lots of little tissue covers, and I'm working on stuffed animals and some crocheted dishcloths. I have a deadline and like R said "2 days before you'll be up sewing all night". I am working on 20 million things, but I'm trying to do the things I should. I'm a procrastinator. I acknowledge it and am trying to fight my nature.

Pictures next time, I swear. I'm going to have R load them up for me this weekend. Pictures of all my FO's for the craft faire and the personal gift stuff.

To anyone who reads this.

2004-09-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

I am lax in updating, I know I am. To the amazement of anybody that knows me, I am not that computer savy. I know how to take the pictures, but then I don't know how to get them to the computer. That would be why there are never pictures here. I want to post pictures of my stuff, that's why I started a blog partially. I wanted a record of the things I make, but since I never get the pictures loaded I get discouraged. So today you will get pictures of things I bought at my LYS, that other people have taken.

I ran over to Stitches In Time yesterday on my hunt for a secret pal gift and ended up walking out with 4 skeins of yarn. I did find something for my secret pal, a lovely wooly yarn in a subtly variegated color, that I will make into a nice warm gift for her. No pictures of that yarn, wouldn't want her to figure out who I am yet.

One of the reasons I shop at Stitches is because they are friendly, they may not have everything I'm looking for....but I've never been ignored (which has happened at both of the other LYS). They always have a crowd of people sitting around knitting and the help is friendly and knowledgeable. I found a great color in cotton yarn a bright turquoise, I'm making dishcloths for a co-worker, using this pattern.

Then I found a nice color combo in Cascade Quatro that will make a lovely man's gift. Mine is the one on the left. It is blue and green and an almost black.

I also found a selection of Cascade Fixation. Mouse and I have been considering this as an alternative to the Lana Grossa called for in the Donna sweater. I picked up a ball in a red and I'm going to swatch it out and see how close I can get to the gauge. I makes lovely socks and I think in the right color it would make a gorgeous Donna sweater. Best of all I was told if we needed a large quantity of it we could order it. Here is a picture of the color I picked out.

I also picked up an old issue of Knitters magazine which has some summer tank tops that I would love to make. I am considering taking a class at Stitches since they are so friendly, or maybe just going one day for drop in help. I am going to get more pictures loaded for my next post. I've been making stuff like mad, I'm going to sell stuff at a craft fair in exactly one month and counting.

Secret Pals III

2004-09-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Here is my list of questions and answers for the Secret Pals exchange. I have my Secret Pals info and my pal will be seeing a neat little gift soon.

1.Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I really love high end and natural fibers, but I also love acrylics and other synthetics. I really just need to like the feel of the yarn. Most yarns have their place in my stash.
2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I do not spin regularly(a little with a drop spindle...very little). I am an avid crocheter, and can make pretty much anything with it. I am a basic knitter, a little better than beginning but not quite intermediate.
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Nope.
4. How long have you been knitting?
Been knitting a little over a year and crocheting about 6 years.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do not but I may make one. I am a book whore. I own thousands.
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Not an easy answer. I love Clove, peaches, and vanilla. I would really like to try some of these products. Lots of her products are scents I would like.
7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
I think they all qualify as sweet teeth.
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I knit, crochet, sew, some jewelery making, embroidery. In fact I work at a JoAnn Fabrics, it feeds my craft addiction.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s?
I like most music. I really like 80's, rock, country, classical, blues, some hip-hop. I am NOT a big fan of jazz or rap.
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?
I love reds, orange, blue, purple. Sensual colors and autumn colors. I also like pastels and brights. Brown and beiges are not colors I use.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I am married with 2 children. I have 2 cats and one dog.
12. What are your life dreams?
To own my own home, and to be able to live comfortably as opposed to scrape by every month. To see my children grow up and succeed in all they want to do. 13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I love Lambs Pride wool yarn and most soft high end yarns, I like most Lion Brand yarns and TLC Essentials yarns are great for easy care knitting. I would like to try alpaca and quivit someday.
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I don't like yarn that feels rough. I am open to trying anything once though.
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
I make a lot of quick knit items. My children love hats so I make lots of those.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I like to knit in the round, it's soothing. Pretty much everything I knit is my favorite at the time. If I don't like the item it gets abandoned or frogged.
17. What are you knitting right now?
I am casting on my first piece of lace, a square shawl. I am also crocheting a poncho for my little girl.
18. What do you think about ponchos?
I am making one for my daughter and the one I started for myself needs to be frogged.
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circular, I am also quite fond of double points.
20. How did you learn to knit?
My mom taught me about a year and a half ago because I wanted to learn since I have friends who knit. My mom also taught me how to crochet about 6 or so years ago.
21. How old is your oldest UFO?
About a year old. It is a monster-size afghan for my husband.
22. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Animated character: The Pink Panther and Stitch. Fav Animal: Sheep
23. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween
24. Is there anything that you collect?
Pink Panther toys, Stitch pins and items, sheep.

Hopefully this has been helpful to my secret pal. It was kinda fun to fill out. Too bad blogger ate my first post and I had to do it twice. No knitting content because I haven't been knitting. I am most of the way done with RM's poncho. Then I finish casting on my lace project.

It's Been A Cruel, Cruel Summer

2004-09-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

I just cannot seem to shake sickness this summer. I finally broke down and went to the doctor 2 days ago because I was tired of coughing out my lungs and crying since it hurt so bad. I have a severe sinus infection and an ear infection and my sinuses draining is what is making me hack so bad. In other words I feel like crap.

I keep trying to craft and I'm so out of it that I am spending a lot of time looking at the ball of yarn and the needles. Working up the energy to do something with my supplies has been a herculean effort. The combination of the medicine and the actual infection make me spacey and I'm spending a lot of time just staring, into space or at my unfinished projects or the kids.

I did wind my skein of merino into a ball, and I am currently casting on stitches to start my first ever lace type project. I tried swatching it out for the candle flame shawl and I may have to drop back and punt on that idea. I think it needs to be made with at least a worsted weight yarn. The flame motif was almost actual size, ie tiny, when I tried it in the merino. I also started a poncho for RM for christmas. She loves being fashionable. Pictures of projects when I feel more human.

A double rant and some FOs.

2004-08-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

So blogger ate my post. Bitches. I had a wonderfully long rant on here and it ate it all. Hopefully it doesn't eat this one.
I am home today because of my children. We dropped them off at school today and not an hour later I get a phone call that I need to come pick up A because he escaped for the second time in a week. He was picked up on the street by another parent dropping off their child.
WHAT THE FUCK???
Am I NOT paying these people to keep an eye on my child while I work. I am now losing a day of pay because A got loose. He squeezed out of a gate that I know he had to work to get out. Why were they not keeping a better watch on him since they know he wants to open doors. I'll tell you why "we've never had a child get out"(insert high falsetto), which means they have no clue how to deal with this. A is not a bad child, he's 2 and exploring, and big for his age and therefore stronger. Now it looks like R is going to have to quit the job he just got because the pre-school can't keep my child in. I can't even get a hold of R today to tell him.
This weekend I did finish 2 knits. I finished my 76 stitches hat, but had to alter the pattern. If I had continued the decreases the way the pattern wanted me to I would have had a reallllly long hat. I also felted my blue and red bag even though I hadn't finished the handle. I decided I would make handles later and sew them on. So now I just have to ball my skein of merino and swatch my Candle Flame shawl.

The Fabulous Fiber Fest

2004-08-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

So it takes me a little longer than most folks to post something. I claim sickness, I have caught a summer cold and overslept yesterday morning when I was going to write this. So here it goes, a day late but not a dollar short.

The FFF was fun. I enjoyed meeting people that I have the pleasure of reading about daily. I must admit it was like a blind date with a dozen dates at once though, you're just not sure if it's going to work out. Jen, La, Kristin, MJ, Wendy, Nancy and Lauren were all a great bunch of gals with neat projects going on that made for great breakfast conversation. I would so be willing to hang out again with other knitters, it is an eye opening experience when other folks have worked through the same things you may be struggling with, and seeing their current projects is inspiring. Check out all their WIPs at their blogs, conveniently linked in my sidebar.

The actual fiber fest was okay. I went home with a new set of double points in a size 10 and two skeins of wool. I purchased a superfine merino in a pale blue hand-dyed color and a green wool/tencel blend. The blue skein is a monster skein with 1790 yards. I am planning on making the Candle Flame shawl out of it. The yarn is just about a worsted weight so I'll need to adjust the pattern, I may even swatch it and see how I like it, swatching ewww.

I enjoyed the festival, but I hope that if it continues the organizers will realize how much the people who attended are into knitting and spinning. The quilts were beautiful and the shops with fabric were neat, I even bought another book on making stuffed animals (Making Tiny Toys). The whole time we were there it seemed that the booths with yarn or spinning fibers were packed full of women. It seems like they should take the festival more in that direction to cater to that dynamic. All in all it was an enjoyable Saturday, and I came home with some new yarn, nothing is bad when you get new yarn out of it.

I hate being sick

2004-08-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

I would have posted more in the last couple of days but life threw me for a loop.
In the past week R has gotten a job, I put A in pre-school with his sister and I tried to OD on my blood pressure medication. It has been a fun week.
I love the fact that R will be bringing in some money, which is allowing us to send A to school. My baby is not going to be with me every morning, which is strange. Which is where the blood pressure meds came in to play. I had a morning routine, get up with the boy, watch some cartoons, take medication, make breakfast. Always the same. Sending him to school screwed me up.
The second day he was gone I took my medication twice. I was fine until about a half hour into my work shift. Then my pulse started to slow down and I started to feel horrible. I thought it was bad when I had uncontrolled high blood pressure, this low blood pressure stuff is almost as bad. I am not a laid back person and I never do stuff slow. I was reduced to shivering on the couch in our break room, waiting for R to pick me up. The store manager took my closing shift even though she had been there since 8 in the morning. I came home and slept the rest of the night.
I went to work yesterday thinking I was better and I would be fine. About an hour and a half into my shift my high blood pressure came back full force. My doctor told me to not take my pills since I had doubled up the day before. I didn't realize how much my medication lets me be the person I am. I sat in a chair last night dizzy and freezing or burning up alternately all evening. By the time I left I could hardly walk and was babbling. I hate not being in control of myself.
Today I was supposed to work but opted to stay home so maybe when I have to go back tommorow I will actually feel better. R called me today at 10 after noon and woke me up. I slept for over 12 hours, which I haven't done since before I had kids. I still feel crappy, but nothing like I did before.
On the crafty front, I have continued working on some stuff. I am onto the next color in my 76 stitches hat, I need to learn how to join yarn in better though. I have that bit of a hole where I joined my colors that so many people talk about. A got a homemade blanket and pillowcase to take to school with him, both Scooby Doo. I made myself a messenger type bag to use when I ride my bike, but yet again I found flaws in a pattern. It is too small for all the crap I carry around. I may end up making a new bag, bigger this time. That's all for now. 2 days until Mouse comes to visit, yay.

FABULOUS FIBER FEST!

2004-08-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm going to the Fabulous Fiber Fest!

mouse is going too! Check out the cool button she made.

In fact she has found out a lot of other So. Cal bloggers are heading there... so go to her blog and add your name and we can all meet up and have fun. If your going steal the button.

FO's

2004-08-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Like I said I was starting on my Christmas presents, this week I actually finished one. I made my mom a memo board in lovely autumn colors cause it matches her decor. Pics later.
I also finished my aunt's baby gifts. She had the baby this last week, so I figured it was time to finish the blanket and hat I made. Baby Courtney was a
wopping 10 lbs and 13 ozs. Miss Courtney was the biggest baby in the family yet, my A was a 9 lbs 12 ozs. My only consolation is that my baby was vaginal and this was my aunts second C-section. I still have big baby bragging rights. Also pics later of the blanket and hat.

I also made the last of my fleecy boas, I now have about 20 of them just hanging around waiting for the right person. I collected all of the extras from the huge amount of blankets I made last year for sale.

I bought A his first big boy pillow, it has Spongebob all over it. RM was jealous so I whipped out a new pillowcase for her pillow with some excess Strawberry Shortcake fabric. I also cut out and pinned A's pillowcase, Scooby DOO, and pinned a bunch of baby blankets to be sewn. I was a busy little crafter over the last two days. I didn't have to work. Today back to work. Still working on the 76 stitches hat.

Damn YOU Mouse.

2004-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

You taught me this Long Tail Cast on thing and now I've had to redo it 4 times. I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. Now currnetly knitting a 76 stitches hat from the new InterWeave Knits issue. I had 2 different skeins of Manos sitting around doing nothing, now they have a purpose, a hat for me. That's right, I'm knitting for myself. I am also still working on a crocheted sweater, for myself. I am becoming selfish. I spend so much time away from home doing someone elses work that I want things for myself.
Next up...starting Christmas presents. Normally I start my shopping in August, this year I am starting the projects in August as a side effect of living hand to mouth. I do have a lot of craft supplies though, so everyone gets something made with love this year.
I joined Secret Pals III today. Now I get to wait to find out who I get to send stuff to, I have lots of ideas.

The Camera still had a charge.

2004-08-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

So even though the dog ate the camera cord it still has about an hours' worth of charge. I gathered together everything I could find that I've finished lately, A's hat is no where to be found. I think I left it at my mom's house, c'est la vie. Here is my prototype knitting bag.

My fuzzy flip flops using Bernat Boa

And of course my balls of Reese's Fleeces, the same colors as Mouse's, more colors soon.

Bad Kitten Blogger

2004-07-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad blogger. It's been a long time since I posted. Life got in the way. First work got busy and then I took a short vacation. Then the dog ate my camera charger cord, and then I found out last night that there won't be any pictures for a while, because the memory stick is sitting in my mom's house an hour and a half away. It has not been a good couple of weeks for blogging.

You did read it right, the dog ate my camera cord. Skyler is the most expensive rescue dog ever. When we got him it was $250 to rescue him, not too bad, the money goes back into the rescue organization. The week after we got Skyler my daughter stepped on his paw and broke it. Not cheap to fix. Then his dewclaw grew into his foot, yet again an expensive vet visit. In the meantime we discovered that the dog had a penchant for plastic toys. He doesn't just chew them up, he eats them. So now he can't play in the same room as the kids. And he continues to eat anything that comes into his path. He's even been know to try to eat a skein of yarn. He's lucky his one year rescue dog warranty has run out. Otherwise I might leave him on their doorstep with a bag of chewed up plastic toddler toys.

So to the yarn, I've completed a couple of projects lately and started a few. I finished my hat out of Reese's Fleeces. Of course it is in the test knit stage. I will soon be offering balls of it for sale. I just need to figure out yardages and just how far it will go. Mouse is my other current knitter of product and it has been proven yet again that Mouse knits a lot looser than I do. My test hat could almost hold water.

I crocheted a pair of flip-flops, so now I have fuzzy feet. I used Bernat Boa in Cardinal, a gorgeous red and black. Now I just need a pedicure to show off my pretty work.

I started a really neato poncho from Stitch Diva Studios. A floral motif poncho that is challenging my mad crochet skillz. Word. Actually I am having difficulties, but I bought it because I haven't stretched my talent with a hook for a while. I then picked probably the worst yarn to work with, Crochet cotton, I wanted something cool. It doesn't drape that well yet though. I figure once it has more weight it will hang better. I also had to reswatch my gauge 4 times, because I crochet tighter than the woman who wrote the pattern. It's my at home project since when I put it in my bag it just wants to tangle.

I also made a cool new bag, it's designed for the knitter. It's also in test stages. I am going to have to tweak the design some until I end up with the perfect bag. I'm also going to foray into the clothing category. I picked up a pattern book for crocheted sweaters. I'm starting with crocheted since I'm a pretty excellent hooker, knit comes later when I'm better at that than just hats and scarves. Okay, too long of a post with no break. Tommorow more, I swear

The New Boa.

2004-07-16T22:15:00.000-07:00

Got the camera to work:

Here's the boa being modeled by RM:

I'm selling stuff

2004-07-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

I have too much yarn. It must move on into someone else's stash. I had more yarn than I thought I had. I have problems admitting that I have too much yarn. My twelve step program has begun. The other step is to finish a bunch of stuff. I finished my candy along boa yesterday, so of course the digital camera is on the fritz.

First though the yarn, check it out...

Lot of 4 Skeins Regia Sock Yarn
Mixed Lot of 11 Skeins of Lion Brand Yarn
Mixed Lot of 7 Skeins of Boucle Yarn

I am proud of myself I have finished a couple of things lately. I finished RM's hat, and my bunny, and a purse, and now my boa. The boa is a blatant rip off of a pattern. I was in one of my LYS's and they had a boa on display and after looking at it for a minute or two I figured it out. It's not my fault I could tell how it was made and wasn't willing to pay 7 dollars for the store owners pattern. I'm just a poor working girl, who made said boa out of 13 dollar a ball yarn. It was already floating around in my stash. It's coral pink and so it really looks like sea life with the little flecks of color that are throughout it. Pictures when the camera works again.

Remember: A stamp collector never gets upset that he doesn't mail his stamps, why should I feel bad about not using my stash.

Finished item and some pics.

2004-07-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Haven't been too crafty lately since I'm always so tired. Sometimes the urge to sleep wins out. This last week I actually finished a project and am mostly done with another.
A couple of weeks back I bought a skein of yellow superwash merino by K1C2 for RM because she wanted me to make something for her. Since then I have been constantly hearing "Mommy, you done with my lellow hat? Why not?" So I fished it out again and add the last 3 rows that I just hadn't gotten to.

And a picture of A just because he wanted his picture taken. He's framing his own shot here, my future photographer. Take note, he also colored the door behind him with permanent marker, also a budding artist.

I also made my brocade zombie bunny. Everyone else likes him. I think he looks funny. The brocade fabric is my enemy, I will sew with it again, but I will find a better way. It frays like nobodys business.

Next time there will hopefully be finished pics of my tutti frutti boa. I love the yarn but unless I suddenly become rich this is the only thing I will ever make out of it.

Good crafter.

2004-07-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

I was a good crafty girl the last couple of days. I finished my blue and green crochet purse (note to self: Microspun=no shape)and a hat for RM that I forgot I had started. I organized some of my stuff, made a blanket for A, and decided that my circus peanut yarn may be a pillow.
On the downside, I have to stop buying stash. I found a fabric remnant and a skein of Lorna's Lace yarn that I forgot I even had, all buried under fabric. I also found my crochet hook set and my husband's headphones all buried under fabric. I have a problem. I am aware that I have a problem though. I realize I have to stop buying. That my stash exceeds my life span since I now work full time. Now I just need to finish more projects.
In the finishing projects vein, I am currently trying to figure out what I make that is marketable to sell. I have a list of about 15 different crafty items that I make with relative ease and could profit from the work I put in. Purses, stuffed animals, baby blankets, crocheted hats...all pretty easy and they have a market. Now to just set up that website.

The tattoo

2004-06-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

In full color. I was worried about liking it colored in since I lived with it in black and grey for a while. I should have never worried. Pat Fish is an amazing artist.

Pictures

2004-06-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

So I finally found my memory stick reader attachment, would you believe it was buried under a pile of yarn. No really it was under a pile of yarn.
First the pictures of the two purses that are languishing because they need straps...

The body on the knit bag just needs to be seamed at the bottom, and my stitch holder is a pen since I can only seem to find one of my bamboo DPs. Once I find the second one I'll get rolling on this again. The crochet bag is back in business, in fact I am almost done with the straps since I picked it up yesterday. I can crochet mindlessly while the kids are up which helps.
Now the last two bags I sewed. I think I'm going to have a hard time letting go of the plaid one, since my plan is to sell them.

So these are just a few of my projects. The extra pink plaid I still have is going to be another purse and then a skirt. I still have some of the people fabric too but there are no plans for it. Next time tattoo pictures in full color.

Still chugging along.

2004-06-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

So it looks like every 4 days I get some time to post on this thing. Oh well, I try. I signed up for the Candy Along, and I'm trying to figure out what to make with my yarn. It's the Circus Peanut yarn that mouse snagged from the GSR box. I love those circus peanut things and I absolutely needed the yarn.
The only problem is that I think it needs a carry along to have enough substance to make anything I want to make out of it. It's a yarn called OnLine Linie 58 Calypso... even the website didn't help. In fact I had to have the website translated just to see if I could find anything on it of use to me. I also can't find any place that carries it anymore. I believe they stopped production on this yarn and moved on to others. I'm now sad. I'll never be able to match the circus peanut color, and it's a light enough color that anything I carry it with will show through. At the moment it is being knit into the beginning stages of a shawl.
Tonight I will take a picture, barring extreme tiredness. I swear. The tattoo is healing nicely, I will take a picture of that too.

So I guess I have read quite a few of these.

2004-06-17T00:07:00.000-07:00

Mouse has this on her web site. I figured it would be interesting to see just how many I had read. My count is 35. A couple of the 35 were selections from the whole set. Then there are others that I didn't italicize because I hadn't read the specific work, ie Faulkner, Cather and Kingston. Can we tell I used to be an English major.

Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
BrontÃ«, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
BrontÃ«, Emily - Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert - The Stranger
Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
Dante - Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel - Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry - Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - Faust
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to Arms
Homer - The Iliad
Homer - The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll's House
James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair - Babbitt
London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas - The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel GarcÃa - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur - The Crucible
Morrison, Toni - Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene - Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George - Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry - Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard - Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon - Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles - Antigone
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William - Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David - Walden
Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire - Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith - The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt - Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard - Native Son

So pictures soon.

2004-06-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Went Sunday to get my tattoo finished. Gorgeous. It really does look like a dutch still-life. I will take pictures tonight. It's not healed yet, but it's still pretty. Also pictures of a lot of the projects I am working on. The two bags that I have to finish and the scarf I am working on and the afghans and the, ok, you get the idea. I won't regale you with the whole list. Maybe just all of the pictures. I need to find one of those project counters that show how far done they are and post that.

What I really did with my day off.

2004-06-12T12:27:00.001-07:00

I had all of these things planned to do. Well, I did none of those things.
I made a purse instead. My obsession is with purses. I've loved purses since I was a little girl. Now I make them, with the very real intention of selling them at some point.
Somewhere in my pile of stuff is a knit bag that needs it's handle. I hate hate hate knitting ten stitches back and forth. It bores me to death. I also have a purse that I was crocheting with Lion Brand Microspun, done except for the damn handle. I guess my main problem is being repetitive. That would be why I work on twenty million projects at once.

My crafty self.

2004-06-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

I have the day off. After writing this post I'm going to go play in my fabric. I am still in the process of cutting squares out for blankets. It's a time consuming job.

Then I bought some jewelry making supplies to make my own stitch counters. I have already made a set for my crochet with safety pins and glass beads. This set will be
for my knitting with 10mm jump rings and beads a little bigger than seed beeds.

Cast on a hat with Lamb's Pride Bulky in RPM Pink. Was knitting along, actually knit and purling, when I realized that when I joined my circle, I twisted my stitches. I was going to make a moeibus hat, oops. It wasn't big enough for a scarf. It has been put aside to be ripped out at a later date.

So now off to craft. Maybe I can finish something today.

I work a 40 hour week and still don't have time to craft.

2004-06-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

Since I now hold a mostly full time position at my own neighborhood fabric and craft giant I don't have any time to do anything else. Every time I sit down to sew a kid screams, if I try to knit or crochet somebody spills milk, if I try to read my children are in my lap and leaning over my book before I know it. I don't remember if they were always this way or just now because they never see me. On the upside my kids are extra cuddly when I do see them.

I did finish the hat I was knitting for R this weekend. It's too short...so I get a new hat. He says I look like Meg from the family guy in it. Maybe I will actually post a picture of that, though I hate pictures of myself. Every time I make a hat it turns out not right. You would think that simple knitting in the round would be easier than I am making it. I will try again when i get the chance.

One of my projects at the moment is a rag blanket for A. RM already has one, completely Strawberry shortcake fabric, so now it's the boys turn. I have collected an assortment of boy fabrics, blues clues, scooby doo, curious george, sharks, plaid, bugs, cowboys.....now I just have to start cutting the squares. RM's only took me a month to finish because I didn't work on it all the time. So A's will probably take at least that long, I always have too many irons in the crafting fire.

Couple of Days Since I Posted.

2004-05-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

Finally took a picture of my tattoo, only the newest one though. I actually have 8 different ones. I've been getting tattoos since I was 18, but up until now I have had 7 different people tattoo me. After getting this tattoo from Pat Fish. I have decided that I will never go to another tattoo artist again.

Is it not an amazing piece of work? I go back in during the second week of June to get the rest of my color filled in. I discovered that 3.5 hours is all the pain I can take. I am so hugely ecstatic that I had it done though. You would never guess that there was another tattoo underneath all that fruit. I love Pat Fishs' artistic ability and that fact that she drew this piece just for me.

So I've been busy. Went to see Mouse's new apartment and was envious. We are living with family and they get the majority of the space. I can't wait to have my own space again. Still working on my knit hat, about half way done. Sewed a baby blanket and some scarves for sale later in the year. Been working on top of all of that. One more day and I get a weekend off, two whole days in a row. I won't know what to do with myself.

Wall of Projects:

2004-05-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures that I promised regarding the wall of fabric, that has since come crashing down around my ears.

Day 7 of 9

2004-05-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

ok, so I typed that and it screams Star Trek reference. It is not, that is what today is, day 7 of 9 in a row at work. I really hate when they do this to me. By the time I get to my day off all I want to do is stare at the wall and ignore everyone around me. Probably not the best thing for the kids to have to deal with.

I am going to post pictures of my wall of fabric and sewing paraphenilia once the husband shows me where he put the pictures in the computer.
I am not the most computer literate, but once he shows me I won't forget it.
On a side note, about 12 hours after the picture of my severely loaded up shelves of fabric was taken, I touched the shelf.
THE SCREWS PULLED OUT OF THE WALL!!! and I had to stand there and hold it up until R was able to come and lift all of the boxes off of it. So now my shelf is empty and I had to rearrange to fit the boxes on the floor. I am currently brainstorming a better shelving system.

My husband may finally get a hat after I finish the one I am currently trying to knit. The last hat wasn't even salvageable in my mind, I threw it in the circular file after it sat and mocked me for a couple of months. Really it mocked me. All I heard when I looked at it was "look at how horrible you are at knitting." I had to throw it away so I could move on. So I actually bought a hat pattern, sad right, and I had to alter it anyway so it will fit his big dutchy head. I'm about 3 inches into it and maybe I will have it done by the end of August( I don't knit very quickly either).

All in all I think I have about 4 projects that are partially knit. I just hate knitting straps...I really want to finish the bag...but those straps. And two scarves, one I need more yarn for and the other just got set down and never picked back up.

Not too bad right, WRONG, that's just the knitting that is piling up. I have a closet full of yarn in addition to that wall of fabric, and there is a second wall of fabric and about 3 other small, (R says sizeable) yarn stashes throughout the house. I never get halfway into something I like. I'm obsessive, I like options, I like fiber.

After work

2004-05-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

I had a hell of a time at work. People being rude because they want things NOW and we were totally understaffed. Hopefully they are happy with all of their craft stuff. I love my job, just not some of the customers.

On the upside I did get more fabric. Kid fabric, Scooby Doo (Doo is what the kidlets call him), a mermaid print for R, and the most obnoxious neon animal fabric (it will be sleepy pants eventually). I love getting a discount. Now if I just had time to sew between kids and work. I have quite a few things cut out and ready to go, like my brocade bunny rabbit. I just haven't really had the time to do it.

First post

2004-05-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

So I am now the proud owner of a blog. It really was simple to make this. You will all get to see what a tattooed mother of two and a certifiable fiber fanatic has to say about life. I crochet, knit, sew, embroider and dabble in a number of other crafty pursuits. At the moment though its all on hold so I can cuddle with A while he watches cartoons. Life is good.