So I lied a bit...

I was going to put up pics of the stuff that I have been working on and/or finished. I took the pictures. But... somehow the USB connector got squished. And I don't know how to use Greg's universal one (it involves attachments and switching things and adding others... I'm not hardware inclined). So... no pics, yet. Will try to get them posted tomorrow.

I got my final gifts from my oh-so-very-cool yarn fairy Mel! A big shout out to the west coast! I so very much wish I was there! She knitted me this very cute little drawstring purse. It actually will go quite well with a number of my hippy outfits. Unfortunately, the geeky side of my brain is telling the hippy side that it would also make an awesome dice bag. It's just the right size, and everyone would know it was mine. My current dice collection has fills far too many Bertie Bott's Bags. Oh, the dilemma! :-)

OK, pics tomorrow. I promise. Well, maybe I won't go that far! 'Nite

Grrrr...

I'm not sure that I like blogger. I keep trying to reset my links and it never shows up. It shows up in the preview, but for some reason, not on the blog itself. Bastards.

Alright. I'm going to hunt down that danged camera and get some picture posts up here. I need to post a pic of the yarn that my secret pal got me, and the finished skirt. I also have the lap-blanket in progress and a baby blanket in progress. I'm also going to put a pic up of the purse that I made my downstream secret pal. It tunred out really cute. I can't believe I was able to create my own design AND felt it! Go me!

I'll try to get the pics up by tomorrow night. I need to find the button for the purse that I made, and attach flowers to the drawstring of the skirt. I played hooky from work today, so maybe I'll get all this last minute stuff done tonight while watching Eureka on SciFi. I'll make Greg take the picture of me in the skirt, so you can see what it looks like. I'm thinking of making a tank top to go with it. But I really need to get this other stuff finished first! Greg had the audacity to ask me if I wanted to make a baby gift for some friends of ours. I'm currently making the baby blanket and hat for my cousin, the lap blanket, and I have another baby blanket to make for his niece. I might give in and make a teddy bear, though. If I can find the time in between other stuff.

OK... Gotta finish some stuff and get ready for a night of croceting and TV watching.

Does Ritalin work for crochet ADD?

Eek! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. It's been a busy month and I've lost track of time. The other half spent a couple of days in the hospital. He's better now. Diagnosed with hypoglycemia, has to lose weight. We're both dieting, but he's doing a better job of it. I'm exercising more, but not losig any real weight. Of course, I'm retaining water this week, so that may be part of the problem.

I also went camping a couple of weekends ago. Not as much fun as I normally have. Didn't get any crocheting done at all. But, I posted all this on my other blog, and don't feel like reliving the memories yet again.

I've been a busy crocheter with a touch of ADD. I'm working on a lap blanket for my lap blanket project. I've been a bad girl with that. It was completely my idea, but I haven't produced as many as I like in the last year. Everyone I know having babies takes too much crocheting time away from that.

I finished the skirt... ok, it's mostly finished. I have to weave in my ends and sew on the flowers to the drawstring.

I'm almost finished with the gift for my One Skein Secret Pal. I made a little purse with a long strap... you know, the kind that you can fit some money, your car keys, and your ID in. I was worried that it would be kind of silly, especially since I came up with the EXTREMELY simple design myself. But it got quite a few compliments on it from some of my coworkers. My station manager said that she needed a purse exactly like it when she was in Vegas recently. She hated lugging a purse filled with a bunch of stuff she didn't need all over the place, when all she needed to carry was money, key card and her ID. I have to sew on a button, possibly resew the strap, and then I'm going to felt it. Wish me luck. I've never tried anything that ambitious.

I'm also working on a bunch of dishcloths. I wanted something small that fits in my purse. It's nice to have something that I can work on while wating at doctor's offices with my dad, or something mindless to keep my hands out of the snacks while gaming or watching TV.

And I receive my new yarn from my secret pal! It's this lovely lightweight tweed. It's soft and beautiful. I'm thinking it deserves to become socks. I have a pretty pattern for lacy-topped socks and I like the idea of girly-looking socks made out of non-girly-looking yarn.

She also sent some wonderful smelly soap and lotion. It smells so great that I'm almost afraid to use it. What will I do when it's all gone?

I will post pictures of all of this as soon as I feel ambitious enough to bring in the camera from the van. For now, I really need to get to bed. I have to work in the morning, and I should try sleeping before then. It works better that way.

Yarn-love

What's this? A post? Actually related to crocheting and yarn? Who took over this blog????

I thought I would let you all see how the skirt is progressing. It's not fantastic, but this is the first time I have made something like this. Moving out of the baby blankets and scarves routine. I'm actually thinking of entering it into the county fair. I don't think I have a chance in hell of actually winning, but I will get free tickets to the fair.


I have maybe 10 more rows of the shell pattern to finish, then the draw string. My biggest fear is that it's going to look like utter crap on me. But, it was an experience.

And looky here:


This is the yarn I got from my One Skein Secret Pal. It's a thick, chunky, green alpaca and it is so very soft. I have no idea what I'm going to make with it. I keep thinking of making a hat for my dad for this coming winter. I doubt his hair will grow back for quite a while. He's starting to lose his facial hair as well. This is warm and would make a wonderfully cozy hat for a bald head.

I had a picture of the yarn I bought for my assigned pal, but it got deleted and I'm not really great with the blogger format, so I'm not going to try to repost. I will tell you about it. It's a very soft, light-weight cotton/merino blend (by Sierra) in white. My pal said she was looking for a soft cotton for summer-weight items, and she likes to dye yarns. The ladies at the LYS say this yarn dyes very well.

OK, I have to go finish laundry, and then watch TV and work on my skirt. Later everyone!

I know, I know... I'm a bad blogger. And a bad hooker. We've actually had some nice weather recently, between thunderstorms, so I've been outside. We have so much work to do on our house, oth in and out, and I've been trying to chip away at it little by little in between my dad's doctor's appointments and my work schedule. Here is what I've been doing:

This is the firepit I bought for my backyard:



I love how it looks like a cauldron and has stars and moons cut-outs. It's perfect! I can't wait to get my Pagan friends over for a bit of drumming and conversation.

Here is my veggie garden. It doesn't look like much in the picture, but I have 6 tomato plants (three varieties), 3 summer squash, 3 green beans, 3 brussel sprouts, 3 broccoli, 1 zucchini (because you can't have a garden without zucchini), 1 regular eggplant, 1 Japanese eggplant, some bell peppers, some watermelon, and either strawberry or rasberry or both. I got the berries from a friend and couldn't remember which was which and they both look the same to me, and of the three plants, one died before I could plant it.

Ignore the weeds surrounding the garden. :-)

I also have a massive blackberry bramble that I covered in netting. The berries were great last year, but I ended up with about 1/2 cup after the birds got to them all. I lest some of it uncovered for the birds this year, but I covered up a huge area of it to keep the buggers out.

Wish me luck. I have never had a garden before, and I really don't know what the heck I'm doing. I'm not using any chemicals on it, because I don't feel comfortable eating stuff I can't pronounce. I have a landscaping mat down over the garden to keep the weeds down. I cut out holes for the plants, hopefully giving them room to grow. I can always make the holes bigger.

On the crochet front, I need to find a skein of yarn for my one skein pal. She likes natural yarns, in neutral colors. No novelty or itchy yarns, and nothing bright or gaudy. She hasn't found a cotton yarn that she really likes, and I was thinking of sending her a skein of Tahki cotton. It's soft and lightweight. Anyone have any other ideas or suggestions?

Later!

Secret Pal Exchange

WOOT! I got my first email from my One Skein pal. I also sent a secret email to someone as well! I am so very excited!

So, I have to answer a bunch of questions. They are the same ones that I asked of my "yarn-to" pal. Funny, though... my "yarn-to" pal had different questions. Hmmmm...

I thought that I would post them here, since my secret pal has seen my blog. Here they are:



1. Which yarn is most like your personality (you can be specific or general with your answer- brand, type, color, fiber, whatever)?

Egads! What a question! I have an eclectic personality, bordering on multiple personality disorder. I would like to say all-natural, and/or recycled yarns, since I have the whole hippy-Pagan thing going. But I also can relate to fun and funky novelty yarns (although they are a pain-in-the-ass to work with (also, kinda like me, at times!)

2. What is your favorite color yarn to knit/crochet with?

I have to pick ONE?? I like blues and greens. Lots of jewel tones.

3. Have you ever used variegated, or magic, yarns?

I have used some variegated yarns. I really want to try and make something with magic stripe yarn. I have an idea for a handbag (a pattern I'm coming up with myself!!!)

4. Do you tend to favor certain fibers when choosing yarns?

I like yarn that is soft or textured. I'm a very tactile person, and I love to touch things.

5. Do you prefer to work with center-pull or traditionally wound balls of yarn?

Center pull. Or else the ball rolls around and my cats start to chase it. And we really don't want cats chasing yarn. They sometimes eat it and cost their meowmie lots and lots of money.

6. Have you ever worked with organic yarns or are you interested in trying them?

No, but of course I would. Refer to the answer to question one and my hippy-Pagan-ness

7. How many and what projects have you made in the last year?

Oooh... tough one. I made a few lap blankets, although not as many as planned. I made a really pretty layette set for a couple from church. I have recently completed two ponchos. A couple of cotton grocery bags. A few head scarves. A fluffy mohair shawl. A pair of slippers. I think that's it.

8. Will you be knitting any gifts this year?

Nope... because I can't knit. I will probably be crocheting a few gifts.

9. What is your favorite one skein project?

So far, the only things I have completed with a single skein are a pair of slippers and a really cool scarf that looks like a pink boa. I would go for the scarf as my favorite.

10. How much yarn do you have in your stash and how do you store it?

I have lots and lots of yarn. But, not all of it is mine. My hubby knits (occasionally) and some of it is stuff he bought. Right now, most of it is in various boxes in stored in our unfinished meditation room. Someday, we might finish our house and maybe organize our stash.

11. Do you have a yarn in your stash that you love so much you can never use it or part with it?

Nope. I do have stuff that I can't figure out what to make with it though. I have a bunch of pretty blue alpaca that I thought my hubby would use to make a baby blanket for his youngest nephew. His nephew is now almost a year old, and none of the yarn has been used.

12. Do you knit less or differently in the summer?

I crochet about the same. Most of my work is done at work. But I also drag my stuff along to campouts and such. I tend to work more on stuff that will clean easily when I'm crocheting outdoors.

13. Do you belong to any knitting groups (online or offline)?

No.. because I still do not knit. I also do not belong to any formal crocheting groups, although a bunch of us at church bring our projects on Sunday or to other meetings to keep our hands busy.

14. Pal, please confirm for me your mailing address (some East Coast zip codes may have lost the beginning Zero value and appear as four digits, and some pals were in the process of moving when they registered).

I'll email this one.


Additional Questions from my Secret Pal:

What color are your cats?

I tend to stick to monchrome colors for kitties.. :-). The oldest of my furdren is blue-grey with a touch of white on her chest. Next in line is my cow-kitty Zorro, who is white with black spots (and a black "hood", hence the name). Finally, my youngest and most annoying kitty is dark grey with white socks, chest, and chin.
What size shoe do you wear?

What is your favorite children's book? (On a side note to that one, I think other than # 3 I could claim the same on all 6 of the "weird things about yourself" you have posted on yer blog...weird, huh? Not only can I name all 50 states in alphabetical order in under 1 minute, I can sing them :D )

I can sing them, too!!! My favorite children's book, as well as all-around favorite book, is Where the Wild Things Are. I own two copies of it (one hardcover and one paperback) and I have gifted it to all children I know born since 1995. I almost know it by heart.

What is the skirt like that you're making from the Happy Hooker book?

It's a simple skirt with a drawstring waist, worked in rounds of double crochet with multi-colored scallops starting about 2/3 of the way down. It looks fairly easy, which is why I am trying it.

OK... that's all for now. I need to start thinking about cooking something for dinner. And I think I'm going to spend the evening watching TV and crocheting. TTFN!

New yarn! Yippee!!

What a very happy birthday to me! I was heading out the door, on my way to my massage, when I saw the mailman had come. And he brought me this:




This is 10 skeins of silk yarn handspun from remnants of saris in Nepal. I bought them on Ebay for under $30, after you add in shipping and handling. Go me!

This picture sucks terribly. The stuff is absolutely beautiful, each made up from a gazillion colors. I can't wait to make something from it. I'm thinking maybe a sash or a shawl. I have to finish the skirt first, though.

OK... I'm off to bed. G'nite!

news and such

OK, I finished a poncho for me! Yay! And here it is:



The color looks like crap, but it's black with red/hot pink fun fur trim. It's the same pattern I used for a friend's daughter, just a bit more embellished.

In other news, I found a LYS. Unfortunately, I do not have the money to shop at those kinds of places. The yarn really isn't expensive for the yarn they sell. I just can never afford to buy that kind of yarn. I wanted to get some cotton yarn for a skirt I like from my Happy Hooker's book, but it was $5.75/skein, and I need about 17.

So, I ended up substituting Lion Brand's Microspun. It's the same weight, so it should work. This is what I have accomplished so far:






LOL, I know... it's not much.

And finally... I got the name of my secret pal for the One Skein Secret Pal Exchange!! Yippee!! I can't wait to start finding yarns and getting yarns. WOOT!

OK, I have to skedaddle. I have a massage appointment to get to. It's my birthday, and I am going all out. But, I'll post all that to my other blog!

Now for something completely different

OK... so the diet blog wasn't working out. I have too many other things in my life to worry about. So I revamped the whole set up and created my own crochet blog to compete with all those knitting blogs out there. Take that, Molly and Scattered Gemini! So, other than jealousy, what prompted me to start this? Well, for one, I joined the One Skein Secret Pal yarn exchange. Next, I bought these:











So I now have enough crochet projects to keep me busy into the next decade. I also have to crochet some lap blankets, which a group of mine distributes to nursing home residents in the winter. I think I will be staying busy. I'll try to post some more and get some buttons on here as soon as I can!