The knit hat.
I finished up my hat. If you want a laugh, imagine me (with out a crochet hook or tapestry needle) weaving in ends with a paper clip. Yes, I used an office product in knitting. Will wonders never cease. But, hey it worked. Interesting... but it worked. Here's a pic of my beautiful hat. I am very proud, and even thinking of not putting the pom pom on.
And because the decreases are all symetrical, it looks like I have these 6 little spirally petal things on top. Very cute. It's a bit small though. Good news is that I have enough to do another hat. :) SO I cast on cute hat #2, adding about 10 stitches. I'll let you know how it goes.
swap bag, dpns and Lent (but I'm not Catholic)
SO I keep looking at Crochetville to see when the lady who is supposed to sending me my purse in the Bright & Breezy Spring Tote/Purse Swap has sent it. No luck yet. Rules say they need to be posted by 3/5 to be to the recipient by 3/15 but I have the patience of a, um, REALLY not patient person. So every day (more than once because on this i am a bit ocd) I go to the c'ville site and look to see the list to see if mine is colored red (for sent) then go the end of the messages to see if MAYBE the swap boss has just forgotten to color mine and there is actually a message saying it's been sent. I know, I have problems. BUT, I still have 3 more days.
Patience is a Virtue.
Patience is a Virtue.
Patience is a Virtue.
Blahblah blah blah blahblah.
I got to a point last night where I CANNOT continue on my had on the circs i'm using. Physics is not on my side in this. So this morning I had to go to the doc to find out whats up with my painful hip (still no answer, waiting on xrays) and took a half day. On the way to the office I made 2 very important stops. One to Smoothie King (mmmmm, smoothie) and two to Michaels to get some dpns.
Now Michaels is a craft store, FULL of all manner of craftiness. I buy a lot of things from Michaels, flowers for my wedding, snap models for my 4 yr old, yarn, scrapbook stuff (well, when I had time to scrapbook I bought scrapbook stuff)(it's been awhile), ribbon, painting stuff (see scrapbook stuff), crochet patterns & hooks. I expect them to have a variety of crochet/knitting notions available. Not so. I went in looking for size 10 1/2 dpns of the cheap variety. I look with the knitting needles - they have 2 sets of dpns by boye - size 3 & size 6. NOT 10 1/2. They have a wall of yarn that is longer than my HOUSE! But no metal dpns in anything larger than a 6. UGH!!! I had to spend $9.09 on a set of Clover dpns. $9.09!!!!! But at least I got them and I will be able to finish up my hat at lunch time. Now if I can borrow Patty's pack of cigarettes to make my poofy thing, i'll be set.
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. I was born and raised Catholic but we kinda, um, lapsed when I was about 15. I had never really did the Lent thing when I was young, that I can remember anyway.
But now, I do. I give up something difficult and no meat on Friday's. And I always make tuna steak on Good Friday. I have done this for about 8 or 9 years. Why? I am not Catholic. I am just a follower. The gal that was my maid of honor - Bridget is Catholic. She gives up french fries. I am a follower - I too gave up french fries. And the year after that and the year after that I also gave up french fries.
Now I am a Christian. Christians (of the non-Catholic variety) dont celebrate Lent. Did I follow this? NNNNOOOOO. I am determined in my followerness. And now I justify by actually using it for what it is for - To teach me to have a sacraficial heart and to remind me of my faith. Last year I gave up Taco Bell. That was the LONGEST 40 days of my LIFE!!!!! Monday after Easter I had Taco Bell. Tuesday after Easter, I had Taco Bell. Wednesday after Easter I had Taco Bell. Then I was tired of it for another week.
This year I am giving up Coke (as in cola not as in head). I brought some cherry 7UP into work today to have with my lunch tomorrow, and I have made a jug of tea to drink at home with dinner. This will be healthy for me, and it will be good practice for pregnancy when evil doctors say you can only have 1 can. This is MUCH more significant than giving up Taco Bell. In a good week I will eat Taco Bell once or twice. I usually drink 2 cokes a DAY!
See where this is harder? And, there is always coke in the fridge at work and at home for the others who drink it that are not giving it up for Lent. Starting to think of myself as doomed, we'll see how long I last. If I could i'd make one of those nifty little running calander things in my blog, but i'm not that good.
Oh well, fair thee well my darling coke. I will miss you. For 40 days and 1 minute!
yarn and knitting and crack
Lets see, Saturday Travis didnt feel good and decided to stay home which i thought would hamper my idea of going to Knit N Knibble (lys
www.knitnknibble.com but they suck). But he was sleeping and it was ok for me to go. SO I called Tracie and we headed over. We got there at 5, there was a class going on in one room w/the door shut and there were about 6 people knitting at a table in the middle, being jovial and chatting amongst themselves about this and that. There were a couple gals working while the mgr was shut away and while they did push past us a couple times to put some here or there, they did not say 1 word to either of us. Not hello, welcome, can i help you find something.... nada. Not until we got up to pay (grudgingly, cause we were ticked, but we had never seen verigated wool before...) did anyone say anything to us, and that was just "would you like to be in the computer for the mailing list" and "this is your total." HELLO!!!!!! I have been treated better in the craft section in Walmart. I have NEVER been to a shop of any kind, most especially one that is privatly owned (no i dont expect someone to gush to help me at Publix) where people completly ignore you. People pushed past us without excuse me. Tracie said "So this is what it feels like to be invisible" I agreed. I had brought in my camera but didnt even take it out because I was pretty miffed. Anyway, moving on.
At cys (crappy yarn store) I purchased 1 skein of verigated wool in pink/salmon/raspberry that I absolutly adored. I would have gotten 2 but 1 was all they had. I also bought a pair of size 10.5 16" circular needles (shh, dont tell the crochet group) to make a hat out of my new pretty yarn following the recipe at
www.crazyauntpurl.com (on the right under recipes - easy roll brim hat). She mentioned something about gauge ... ?... and I had pretty skinny yarn so I cast on until I ran out of tail and it almost filled up the circs. Purl says in her recipe that you can just use plain knit stitch and because it's on the circs it makes stockinette for you without the evil purling. That's some good news! SO I worked on that Sat night for a little, did the casting on and most of the first row (which is hard) and I finished that row in the morning before i left for church to sing, and was able to work on the easy rows while waiting to sing. We also went to Universal yesterday and I was able to get some knitting done on the way there and back until it got dark. I've done about 3 inches and I like it. I'd show you but I left my phone at home... oops.
SPeaking of Church yesterday, one of my fellow singers brought in some Girl Scout cookies - I bought some Tagalongs. Travis doesnt like peanut butter, so they will be all mine!
Yarn is addictive... and the monkey
so last night I had to get my son some new undies because he's grown out of the size 4s. hehe. I also needed a b-day gift for one of his little friends and some peas so off we went to Walmart (mine is nice and I grocery shop there). And I had to go to the toy aisle and make my way around to the little boy underwear aisle... and what is in between..... yarn. Yep! And yarn on sale even. And books on sale. (bad bad bad). A bunch of their NOBO yarn was on sale for a buck. I got 8 black (like polar fleece), 2 red, 1 white then 1 pink (for walk stuff) and 2 of this fun fur/ribbon bits in black w/white/grey bits. AND I got 3 books - a skull cap book, a poncho book and a scarf book. The books were $3. oops. And I looked again for smaller circs but no luck. SO, what's that - $23 on crocheting (not knitting, be proud). oops. BUT I have decided to go through my stash and gather together some yarn that I wont be using that I bought because - hey, it's a buck! or whatever and put some lots together for ebay.
SO with my new skull cap book I started making a hat. I tried with the polar fleece stuff and failed, then tried with some cozi I have thats really cute and failed. Fuck if I couldnt see OR feel the stitches! So I got out the skein of the plush from which i made my sweater and viola!
A matching hat for my sweater (which i am also wearing today). No, I didnt get a new cami.
SO, Jake got his new undies - Ninja Turtles! He was excited. And some tighty whites for under his karate outfit. And this morning he wanted the whites, strange child.
Anyway, guess that's about it for now. Oh, the monkey - see those brown feet above my head? Yep, that's my monkey!
Crochet Olympics, and hookers anonymous
So you know how i finished my Olympics sweater in a day and a half? Here's me in it.
I like wearing it, it's so soft and fuzzy. i just think i need a higherup cami for underneath!
So last night was our crochet meeting and it was a blast. We had a new girl come - Amber and she was so much fun and fit in well with our general good naturedness. We are always worried because we are, um, uh, a rather colorful bunch with potty mouths and giggles, and people with more, um, delicate sensitivities might get easily offended. However, we did get some work done, we had 2 more places on the blanket to fix before we gave it back to the lady. Here's proof!
Isn't it pretty though - no longer covered in dog pee, all thread it musta took the lady 18 years to make!
See those legs - that's Tracie. Isnt she beautiful!
We had some monkey love too...
These are made by Stephanie - arent they CUTE!!! And for $11 you too can have one! I got one for wool, he's hanging in my office (by his ear on my cork board... monkey abuse, I know).
This is Stephanie holding the monkies... georgous!
(no group members were identified in the preceeding post).
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Thirteen Things about Brandee
13. I signed up to participate in the Breast Cancer 3 Day
12. This starts on my Grandmother’s birthday
11. This Grandmother had lung cancer and it scared me
10. A lot, since she is my favorite (shh)
9. I have to raise $2200 for my walk
8. I’m worried that I wont be able to do it.
7. You can help - go to http://www.the3day.org/TampaBay06/brandeekins and donate!
6. I’m also worried about walking –I’m not so much a walker.
5. But I am very excited about it – I’ve sent emails and letters and passed notes and made speeches (in choir, but still with the public speaking… )
4. I am walking with a couple gals from my crochet group
3. They are also worried about raising the money
2. They are also very excited about it… walking and camping and eating and fundraising together
1. I hope that my walking will make a difference.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)
http://naturekin.com/dirt
http://maremag.blogspot.com
http://www.littlebitofthisnthat.com
http://perispostings.blogspot.com
http://daridonovan.net/blog/
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Project updates, and some other stuff
Lets see, i've stitched on 1 of the 4 strap ends, then i need to stitch on the closure thing. i'm concerned that once it's felted it'll be funky - like what if the tab shrinks more than the top of the tote, wouldnt it stretch funny? Hmm.
I worked on the knitting more last night while waiting for choir practice to start - i did some purling. I now understand why people do stockinette instead of all purling - because that 1 row of knitting after the row of purling saves your sanity. People wouldnt knit if it was all purling. Purling is evil. Yes, it is. And you wanna laugh, here's my progress. Sorry about the quality, but it's my phone - ya'll know.
The top here is where i did the stockinette, then the bottom is the just knitting. notice that left edge - it's pretty ugly. I guess if i didnt use such dark fat yarn you'd be able to see it better. It's better this way - it really is. You dont want to see the ugliness.
Speaking of knitting maddness - I had gotten this pair of circs - and I want to make a hat because i'm a
www.crazyauntpurl.com follower. I love this girl, but not so much that I would pay 400% more for a house to be near her. Not a stalker. Anywho, so She says to cast on enough stitches to fit around your head (or something like that) and I did, and it was like 22". The problem I noticed after, um, 2 rows of knitting - 22" hat + 20" circ needles = BIG FAT KNITTING MESS not to mention ugly. SO, i need to go to a real craft store (got the circs at walmart, and didnt see anything smaller than the 29") and get some shorter circs... say 22". Then, i'll attempt the hat again. I only wonder how you do the decreases on the circs - won't i still have the same problem with the stringy thing on the circs being too long for the hat? Hrm. Knitting is hard.
Tonight is crochet group. The have threatened to kick me out for my knitting ways - something about the dark side - pish posh. But when i told them of the ugliness that is the knitted (now & purled) scarf they want to see it. Kind of like you REALLY want to look at the people all bloody from a car accident. I am also bringing some music dvd's (another story) and A Good Yarn for Tracie, the Americana afghan book for Steph. Tracie is returning Clerks & Evening w/Kevin Smith (I love kevin smith. still not a stalker) and Shop on Blossom St. Also, tonight is crack night - Dani is bringing us our girlscout cookies. YUMMMMMMO (to quote Rachel) (I LOVE Rachel Ray... she lives near my home town) (it's 2 degrees there) (still not a stalker).
Today at work is going swimmingly. I've done - hmm, let see, i sent a fax, changed an excel file and printed it out for my boss, mailed out my Breast Cancer 3 day notes to 14 lucky family and friends (on company postage) and ebay'd for jelly shoes and swatch watches for an 80's b-day party coming up in March. SPEAKING of.... I'm making these:
http://knitting-crochet.com/crochet/legwar.html in pink & orange stripes. HEHEHEHHEHEHE. I Love the 80's. I also heard my boss clipping his fingernails at his desk. This made me glad he wasnt busy since i was doing non-work stuff. Gross.
Moving on. Well, nothing to move on to i suppose. Maybe more later.
Tote bag update
I finished all the pieces of the tote bag but didnt bring a yarn needle to sew them together - maybe tonight after Choir practice. After that I still had about 10 minutes of AMC left so I worked on my knitting. Yeah, I SOOO suck at knitting.
Tote bag progress
I really like how this tote is coming out - i cant wait to see it felted. We have our felting class set for 3/11 and I WILL wait that long. Being impatient doesnt help but i'm determined. Here are a few pics of it.
The color got blown out on this but oh well.
This is closer up and gives a much more accurate depiction of the colors - it's Patons Classic in Worn Denim and the black/brown is from the yarn store and i dont remember the name of the brand.
Then I really like the upper edging of the
bag - here is an blurry EXTREME closeup:
What they have here is a round of sc then 3 rounds of sl st into the same stitch. The front looks like sideways stockinette stitch (in knitting) and the back looks like little mummies - with the little feet - too cute. Too bad you wont be able to see these stitches.
That's it for now. I have 1 more strap to do then stitch it all together. I also think i'm going to add a little row of the blue around the buttonhole opening. ttfn.
Some stuff
Lets see. I started on the blue part of my tote bag. That means handles and the closure strappy thing and some sort of button product on the handles in the other color than the handle. It's gonna be cute and i'm pretty excited about that.
I need to make a little chenille collar for my grandmas dog - i was supposed to make it like a month ago but completly forgot. oops.
No progress on the knitting, but i did put the sweater in the wash and hopefully it'll dip below 60 and allow me to wear it again!
Um, OH, my Daddy donated $40 to my walk - YOU CAN DONATE TOO!!!
http://www.the3day.org/TampaBay06/brandeekins go there and gimme money! With every donation I will send you either a ribbon or scrunchie hand crocheted by me! So big YEAH Daddy!
Guess that's it for now.
Bored bored bored bored
BORED BORED BORED BORED. BUT the boss is here so i cant whip out the crochet. I've gotten about 38 of the 53 rounds done for the body of the bag and I think it will be very nice once it's felted. Our group has decided that March 11 will be our felting workshop. Not sure yet where it will be at, but it will be fun none the less. Um, um, um, oh, I should be working but I have nothing really to do and I really dont want to help anyone else in the office right now. I could start entering Donations into the govt page but I have so much time to do that - it just seems to get the most respect from my co-workers and they leave me alone.
Current Projects:
I'm still working on the chenile throw. I really hate working with the chenile - it's the thin kind and gets all twisty and drives me bonkers. It is pretty and will be really soft after a run through the wash w/softener.
My knit scarf - I've got about 6 inches done. I have to be in a mood for knitting, a fed up with my WIPs and dont know what else to start mood.
The felted bag - As I said above i've gotten probably about 3/4 the way done. It's really big and floppy just now, but after it's felted I think it will be very pretty. I may need to felt a flower to go on it... we'll think about that.
3-Day stuff to whore out - I decided to give everyone that donates to my 3-day a hand crocheted pink ribbon (i'm expanding this to include pink scrunchies - you're choice). You can donate at
http://www.the3day.org/TampaBay06/brandeekins Please!!! I need to get started on making those. I'd like to have a bunch on hand wherever I go so I can ask various people for donations - at church, choir, lunch - whatever. If you make a donation of at least $5, email me your addy and ribbon/scrunchie preference and I'll send you one free (well, for $5 I suppose).
Thats it... I will just quit mentioning the other bootie for the Christening set. You know. Ugh.
3-Day News - My daddy said he'd donate $40. That makes me happy happy! I sent him to the website, so we'll see what he does with this new information. I also found out that my 3-day coach is a gal I went to Jr High with - but she was one of the popular girls... I was SOOO not one of those. Interesting that I'd remember her name (not that it's an easy one to forget) and she never knew mine. I think we may have shared a drama class - not sure. Kooky.
Anywho... Um, oh, the holiday tissue covers. Seeing as how I do these craft fairs in which LOTS of little old ladies shop i've (actually we've if I count Tracie who had half the idea) I'm (read "we") gonna make the holiday tissue covers from the calendar as a set - 1 tissue cover w/all 6 or whatever add ons for each holiday - V-day, St Pats, Fall, Christmas, etc. I may even add a couple not in there - a Flag would be nice, and an easter egg, then sell the whole set. While i'm sure no one under 50 will buy them, i think they will be a nice addition to our little stand. Also perhaps a tea cozy since we had 1 request for it at the 3 shows we did.
SPeaking of shows... we have one coming up on March 25, 2006 on Largo Main St. It will be fun, I really enjoy doing the shows with the girls - it's like an all day crochet group meeting and sometimes we make some money. Handy how that works out. We have so much fun together, which makes it very nice.
Ok, that's it for now, maybe more later. Cheers.
Some stuff
I'm working on the felted tote bag from a mag that Tracie had - it's HUGE and it's taking for ever! But that's ok, it'll be cute. No pics right now because it just looks like a big black blob.
My friend Damarys is turning 25 next month and my idea for her party is an 80's theme since she was born in 1981. I REMEMBER 1981!!!! I'm just sayin. So I have been put in charge of getting music and such, i've made 1 cd of music from my own cd collection... sad, I know. But now i'm on to the, um, borrowed music! I have a list in my head of what I want, now i gotta find it. Fun joy. She's also been looking for trivia type things, so i sent her to a few websites I found -
www.inthe80s.com http://www.driko.org/80snostalgia.html and
www.80s.com which are all pretty rad (hehe, with the 80's talk) dude.
Um, that's really about it. NO one has donated anything to my 3-day, and i'm worried, but it's only been up 24 hours so i'm not panicked. which is good.
Sleepy sleepy. I want a coke. 21 minutes until lunch & a coke & amc. we missed yesterday due to a staff meeting (damn them) but I LOVE yahoo's synopsissses which are very detailed and accurate which makes me happy. Well, have a great one and i'm sure i'll post more later.
Thursday 13
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Breast Cancer 3 day
I have chosen to walk in the Breast Cancer 3 Day in October. But... I need help! I need donations to get me to my goal. Please visit the donation site and help me help those who need it.
http://www.the3day.org/TampaBay06/brandeekins Donate a little or a lot, and feel free to repost this on your site! I can use all the help I can get. Also If you make a donation I will send you a free pink ribbon crocheted by me! Thanks!
OOPS, forgot to say...
Happy Valentines.
Hug your honey, hug your kids,
hut your cats, hug your beer.
Whatever.
Cheers.
Yarn and hook porn
I got some pics from the escapade to the yarn shop - stolen from Tracie's lj.
This is Tracie's new hook - mine is exactly the same.
This is the wool wall at the yarn shop, I got 2 hanks in a charcoal. I have discovered the desperate need for a yarn swift, however since i dont know how many Hanks of yarn i'll ever buy, i'll settle for the tv stand to hold my yarn.... after i untangle the nasty mess of wool in my bag. The wool i got, along with light blue patons will become a tote bag.
Guess that's it for now, have a great day.
Yarn and hooks and new projects
Ok, so yesterday we went to early service at church, went home and Travis took a nap until 12. Then I left for Tracie's and Travis and Jake left for Disney Quest. They had so much fun and didnt get home until almost 7!
I picked up Tracie for a jaunt to Palm Harbor (which is just the other side of Peru) to a yarn store that was having a fibre arts fair. :) . They were spinning and knitting and weaving and there was a SALE!! We were there for an hour I guess, browsing and petting and wandering and looking and petting. I got 2 hanks of wool in black to make a tote bag (with my country blue as a trim patons wool) to be felted. I also got a Brittney hook in K which I love. LOVE. I want more. All of them would be good but at like $7 a piece that could become expensive. (however when telling my mom of the yarn shop goodness, she was like "that's right next to one of our offices"...REALLY? So ANY gift you need to get me needs to come from there. No, I dont care what it is). They have spinning classes and dyeing classes and knitting classes, and if it wasnt past Peru i'd be there much more often.
After partaking in the yarn shop goodness we went back to Tracie's place to work on fixing the blanket for the lady. It worked, we repaired 3 holes, and put it in the wash to get the piss stains out. Didn't quite work as well as we wanted, the repairs held but 3 washings created 2 more holes (but i was gone by then so she gets to fix them herself), and still didnt get all the discolorization out. [Note: If your animal pisses on an heirloom blanket, please wash it BEFORE the dog's been dead 3 years. I'm just sayin]
The $ from the lady will go to pay for our March show - $65. Dani will have to contact the lady and meet with her to give the blanket back and collect the money. She will have earned her share. Poor, poor dani.
I wore my sweater today. Again. Beause I had to show it off at work. I had to make all my co-workers pet my sweater. Hehe.
Oh, and yesterday when i was at Tracie's house watching olympics and waiting for the washer she gave me some homespun out of her mom's stash that she got THAT SHE (the mom) WAS JUST GONNA THROW AWAY!!!!! A skein and a half!!! So I made this.
Well, almost finished making this - one more handle to go. It's homespun and Mode Dea Dream. It's fuzzy, and my cat likes the taste of the Dream. Silly kitty.
Speaking of the kitty, I re-felted the Kitty Pi and now it's small, like 9" across. It fits my cats head. But he still likes it, and it does stand up more. Oh well, lesson learned!
Well, I guess that's it for now, yarn porn to be posted later.
OOPS
So you know that sweater i'm making for crochet olympics? Yeah, I accidently finished it. I tried it on and i want to add a few rows to the bottom, then i'll be done for real. The problem with this... I have 14 days left of the olympics. Guess I COULD choose to finish the chenile throw as my olympic thing.. Hmmm.
Later today i'm meeting Tracie and we're gonna fix the throw for the lady. AND, we're going to a yarn store. Now, I called EVERY yarn store in the tampa bay area (that's 4) and NONE of them are open on Sunday. Except this one store in Palm Harbor that is open today only because there is a fibre arts show at the plaza their in so they decided to open. Yippee. So we are going there. Head to Egypt and take a left to arive at Palm Harbor, but we're going. It'll be fun, and i'm pretty excited about it.
If I had a yarn store I'd be open Sundays, i'm just saying. I have been dreaming of my own shop for a while now, and just as soon as I win the lotto...
After eating my mac & cheese I started on my sweater. I even did a guage swatch... and it was ok. Here's a pic after amc (about 40 min actual crocheting). This is the beginning of the front. The color is horribly off, let me see if i can find a swatch of the actual color.
Ok, I couldnt find it in red heart but this color is very close.
Pics and stuff
Here are pics NOT of tracie and dani from Wednesday's Meeting.
Me taking a pic of myself BADLY!!! Hello with the chin! (note to self ALWAYS put hair down for pictures)
Dani says "let me take it so you dont have the chins". BIG mistake. (note to self, thank GOD for the no boogies on this one)
This is what an arm hole looks like in a shrug. Silly Silly girl.
No clue who at the post office bit this application before delivering it. Hopefully they had a rabies shot. Sorry about the focus, i'm a dumbass.
Well I finished up the newsboy yesterday and because i'm an asshat with -85% memory I forgot to get the plastic canvass for the brim. Oh well. But I did remember to get the yarn for the sweater i'm doing for the Crochet Olympics... Red Heart Plush in purple.
It's much prettier than the pic shows. I'm excited about it. And since my lunch starts at 1 i'm starting then (it's an hour early, but i only get to work on it for about 40 minutes after i eat... so i'm justifying it). That's a really horrible picture, isnt it. Sorry.
I should be getting my review today or monday, my 2 year anniversary here is tomorrow. I love my job! LOVE IT!!
More later.
Newsboy on me minus the brim:
No, I dont know why my eyebrows look like that.
And what are you doing today?
I'm crocheting instead of working (or knitting cause no crack in the air today... yet). I decided i wanted to make a Newsboy hat. Why? No clue. Here's the link:
http://www.yarncat.com/newsboy_cappatt.html and i'm already on round 9 (after about 30 minutes) and I like the pattern - it's got fp and dcs together and it's cute. It's in the horrible pea green wool that jakey picked out for the kitty pi and i think i'll felt it when it's done cause it's wool and I can. Here's a pic so far:
I just hope that weight will make it fold UNDER instead of up like in the pic. See how nifty the fps look? I'm sure i'll write more later.
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Thirteen Things about Brandee
13 favorite songs:
One Wild Night – Bon Jovi
Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy – Big & Rich
Lovers – the Kinleys
Saturday Afternoons in 1964 – Rickie Lee Jones
In My Life – Beatles
Godspeed – Dixie Chicks
Good Riddance – Green Day
Mercedes Benz – Janis Joplin
Suds In The Bucket – Sara Evans
Me & Charlie Talkin – Miranda Lambert
Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Great White
Good to Go to Mexico – Toby Keith
Down in Mississippi - Sugarland
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)
http://naturekin.com/dirt
http://maremag.blogspot.com
http://www.littlebitofthisnthat.com
http://perispostings.blogspot.com
http://daridonovan.net/blog/
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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Pics to come soon
What can you do at your weekly crochet group…
smell vodka
laugh so hard that two people have to get up to go to the potty so as to not piss in ones pants
find alternative sources of yak roving
discover what an arm hole looks like
discovering that reading the entire sentence of your pattern helps
Things we discovered…
Knitting for Dummies is $21.95
Things you can not do at your crochet group…
figure out how to delete ones many chins picture from someone else’s camera
discover how to knit
we could not discover who ate Brandee’s Largo Main Street Crafters application
unable to figure out how to harvest the alternative source of yak roving
also unable to remove four large men from the craft section for the best seating
purchase Knitting for Dummies see number 1 from “Things we discovered…”
access the internet for FREE
On knitting and frogging
So i decided that I didnt like how my knit thing was coming out because i had dropped a stitch and i didnt know what it would be and whatever so i frogged it and cast on 20 to make purls magic scarf. One tinsy weensy problem... purling. yeah, cant do it. No Purl= no magic scarf. i tried... 3 times of ripping out and trying again... failing 3 times. purling is evil. That is all.
Crochet Olympics
I've decided that because I dont have nearly enough to do (actually I dont, just being dramatic) I would join the Crochet Olympics on Crochetville. I'm gonna make myself a sweater just like the one I made my mama, maybe in a different color... it'll have to be a de-stash since i'm kinda grounded from yarn shops. Here's a pic. We'll see how that turns out. I think i'll do a different neckline too. A nice scoop neck w/rsc along the edge should look nice. I'll let ya know how that turns out.
crack in the water.
Ok... Brandee - Boss + yarn + knitting needles +
http://www.wonderful-things.com/newknit2.htm =
instead of
Batman
I forgot to post Jakey Batman Pics. He was playing on Sunday with a little friend from the g'parents neighborhood and having a blast.
Yeti scarf?
I brought the tan monkey scarf with me today so i could take a pic (and so i wouldnt freeze in our 42 degree weather). It looks like I either crocheted a yeti or a yak, not sure which. it's 5 feet made from 3 balls of VooDoo. It's very warm and cozy.
I finished the green fancy schmancy bag, i even did a felted join of yarn cause i'm a follower! and it WORKED>>> suprised? Me too. Since the felted join worked... i may felt the whole thing, we'll see. I have crochet group tonight and i'll get their opinions on the matter.
I feel like crap - today is THAT day, and my tummy hurts. a lot. How much longer til May? And more importantly will Travis be ready and not paniky in May? Pray. Pray hard. I'm jus sayin.
Damarys is out of the office today so it will be rather quite. And since i'm a dumbass and so worried about bringing in the yeti scarf i forgot to bring lunch. oops. Well, it could be a tb day. Nothin better with cramps than an enchrito!
My Productive Day
Lets see, I made got this Bamboo from Joanns and i had that leftover baby yarn that I used for a sock... but failed... remember? The colors DONT match - the bamboo is in milti blues and the baby yarn is in a minty w/flecks of other colors in it. But hey, it was kinda dark in my living room so what the heck. I put them together to make a little purse... wanna see? Of course you do.
The colors look good together - i was a little suprised in the happy kind of way. Wow, those are bad pictures.
Then - Oh did I tell you about Tuesday Morning. Hello, discount fancy schmancy yarn! After coveting Purls fancy schmancy yarn, i was excited. Then at lunch after I weaved in the ends of the above purse, I sat with it (Gedifra Donatella in dark green) and sat and sat and started making a scarf and ripped it out and tried a different stitch and ripped it out then settled on a bag. Here's the yarn -
I know it's not a great pic, and no thats not a popsicicle stick, it's an emery board to show how big it is. Oh, let me take one of the purse so far... Wow, those colors are really blown out... it's somewhere in the middle of those 2 colors.
Monkey Scarf Pattern
I am thinking of submitting the pattern for the Monkey Scarf to CGOA. Here it is - please look for mistakes.
Monkey Scarf
This super quick and easy scarf is so cute and trendy right now! Groovy scarves can be seen in many mall stores. These only took me an hour and a half to whip up!
3 balls VooDoo
Size N/10mm Hook
Finished Size: 5 ft x 4 in
Stitches used – dc
Directions:
W/N hook, Chain 9. DC in 3rd stitch from hook, DC in remaining stitches across (7 dcs). Ch 2, dc across to end, working even rows until you use up the 3 balls. Mine measured 5 feet. Weave in ends and be beautiful!
And WHY did i buy a knitting book?
Because I dont knit. And it's not one of those learn how to knit books, it's a knit pattern book. And because I dont knit and bought a knitting book I also bought knitting needles - 5 sets for $6. Because I dont knit. Purls making me a follower I suppose. PERHAPS I will try again to teach myself to knit, perhaps I'll give tracie's mom the knitting book cause it was only $4. Maybe i'll keep it in the off chance I have 5 years to teach myself a craft that takes me 4 times as long to do than crochet with 1/10 the diversity in stitches. Who knows.
I got my pics back from Sams with all manner of cool things.
Felting:
There's The Kitty Pi drying on an upside down cake pan. Then a closeup of the side. Then a close up of the top. I didnt take another/better pic of the cat in the kitty pi, that will probably come later.
My cake skills:
These are the cakes I made for my grandparents 50th Anniversary Vow Renewal Reception. Yay me. Put them classes to use!
Chew Toy:
Doesnt that look like an angry kitty picture! Silly Chewy.
There's more, but i have to work first.
Monkey Scarf
Yes, the Monchichi Monkey scarf is done - I finished it at lunch. I didnt think 3 skeins of VooDoo would do it but it did! Almost 5 feet exactly. I have a bad pic to show you too...
It's on the afghan i'm making cause i wouldnt show up very good on the brown woodish table in the conference room. I promise to put up a pic that's closer up where you can actually see it - not taken with my phone. Soon, very soon.
Anywho, So, current project list includes the afghan (shown below the monkey scarf) in the chenille that I got from the dude on ebay. Yep, it's slow going. I am about to whip it out and work on it now since it is very boring at work today and there's only 3 people in the office cides me. And NONE of them are bosses. Sure I could make up stuff to do, but i'd rather be crocheting.
No other projects to do (except to finish the Christening gown which is probably too small for even the smallest of babies so why bother). Well, none that i've started yet. I do have some of the weasel piss green wool in my tote from Chewy's Kitty pi... hmmmm, what to make with green wool. Perhaps a little change purse? Let's play... shall we.
Projects done... yippee
Lets see, I finished the afghan for Tyler at 12 and had to leave at 2... close... yes. I didnt have time to wash it but did give them washing instructions. He liked it and it matched, and that's all good.
I made a kitty pi! I stole this idea from
www.crazyauntpurl.com who stole it from
wendyknits.net/knit/kittybedgallery.htm but it's all good. Here's mine... with kitty from this monring.
I did take pics of it while it was blocking, but that was with the actual CAMERA and not the phone so i'll get those tonight. I was so suprised because the felting only took 1 washing in hot water, i kinda expected 3 or 4 washings. Happy, yes, because I did not have to spend a million dollars on hot water heating, but i just wonder if it will always work like that. It was fun and I really enjoyed the suspense. My only question on it is that I thought it would stand up more, or have a little more stiffness to it. I blocked it on an upside down 12" round cake pan that had a towel on top then the pi, then tied the sides of the pi w/string to hold it closer into place. Chewy likes it, we'll see if it serves its purpose of actually getting him OFF my lap while i'm crocheting.
Then I started & finished a purse for my exchange. This weekend was very productive crochet-wise. I did this in homespun, it took 1 skein and i was worried it wouldnt stretch but i had about a yard left, whew! I thought about doing buttons but they are always such a pain in the ass, so I didnt. I put candy in the pocket on front so you'd know there's a pocket. It worked up so quick, and it's just like the hobo bag I have for sale...
www.ecrafter.com/brandeekins . I like it and hope my swap partner does too.
Afghan. Not. Done. Yet.
So i did get quite a bit done on the afghan last night considering i had to eat at my in-laws and had open house at Jakes school at 7 and didnt get home until after 8. I crocheted through an episode and a half of That 70's Show plus all of CSI, then a little Iron Chef Secrets then went to bed to watch Chef for about 10 more minutes then went to bed.
I have started the last red stripe but have not completed a row of said stripe. I need to finish that then do the border which will hopefully not take forfreakingever.
Deadline - tomorrow at 12 when I have to wrap it, then get my kid from his grandmothers (assuming he gets a green face today and is allowed to spend the night... pray hard for this... pray hard) and leave for the party.
Yes the party starts at 3 and it's only 45 minutes away, but I will leave at 1. Why you ask? Because a yarn shop... a REAL yarn shop is only 10 minutes away from my final destination.
Do I have money to spend in said yarn shop... no, not really, but I do have a little left over from my bonus that I was supposed to use to buy a replacement camera with but used for groceries instead. camera schmamera... i'll put it on plastic. This is yarn. And last time i got yarn from there I gave it away in the white elephant. I want expensive yarn for ME!
No, I dont have any clue what i'll buy or what I even would want to make! But c'mon, it's a REAL yarn store.
In other crochet news, my crochet group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tampabaycrochet/ has decided that we are gonna get together one saturday and learn to felt. None of us have ever done it... i've never even crocheted with wool. I've never seen wool in a store, much less bought it! But... I would like to make the kitty pi (
http://wendyknits.net/knit/kittybedgallery.htm ) But I like the one on
www.crazyauntpurl.com better - so that's what i'm gonna copy... cept not knit.... and not in expensive yarn (because i'm poor)(and it's for my cat)(and i'm not on crack today).
Maybe more late.
Purl, the ex's kid's afghan and other craziness
Lets see, I'm still VERY ambitious about the afghan for Tyler, Oh, guess I havent told you about that.
So my ex boyfriends little boy turns 5 this weekend and I'm taking my little boy over for the party (yes I know, this is strange). After deciding I would just let Jake pick out a lego thing for Tyler I changed my mind as I am sometimes wont to do.
I thought to myself - Tyler needs an afghan! Yes, I know it's Friday and I have only 7 days to make it... but I think his room is Spider man and I have some royal and burgandy rhss (not soft, I know, but c'mon, i'm po).
So I called Tracie and she sent me the pattern - she rocks - to the afghan she maid her nieces - it's all fptc/bptc so all the ridges are on the front - 3dc, 2fptc, 3 dc, etc to the middle then it's 3dc, 5fptc 5 times then back to 2fptc, next row it's backwards w/bptcs instead. It's coming out nice and I'd love to show you a current pic, but I like a dumbass forgot my phone (w/the camera inside) so I have to show you an OLD pic - old being 2 days ago.
I've now got 4 complete stripes and i'm on the 5th but only a couple rows in. each stripe has 13 rows. I have a total of 6 skeins - 3 each, and each row takes up about 2/3 skein. i'll do 6 stripes and a border of some sort. Tracie included directions for a border but I'm a bad crocheter and havent read that far yet :).
In other news, I have become completly enamored with
www.crazyauntpurl.com and not only do I read it every day, but I've started at the beginning and read forward - granted i've only gotten a couple months in but then, I do at least TRY to LOOK like i'm working! AND I've directed a couple friends there and THEY have become addicted to her too. That chicks a hoot, and I would SOOOO invite her to our crochet group if a) she crocheted and b) didnt live in CA. I'd even be willing to overlook the whole of (a) because she's gotten me thinking about my knitting needles. Fleeting thoughts, but thoughts nonetheless. And in reading her blog I have started trying to be a bit more creative in mine, and not as boring as normal. We'll see how this plays out. I had (as in highschool and before had) loved to write and have a gazillion page 1's of novels shoved somewhere in my closet. My problem - ending anything. I'm pretty good at starting, but ending... not so much, but thats a story for a different day.
I guess that's it for now. Have a fantastic day.
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Thirteen Things about Brandee
Yes I have horrible taste in music, and to show this I give you 13 songs I secretly love… well maybe not so secretly:
1. Kissing a Fool – George Michael
2. More – Madonna on Dick Tracy
3. Drops of Jupiter – Train
4. I Fell in Love with Jack Daniels Again – Miranda Lambert
5. The Pirates that Don’t Do Anything – Veggie Tales
6. Livin La Vida Loca – Ricky Martin (though I don’t have it)
7. Complicated – Avril Lavigne
8. Could’ve Been - Tiffany
9. We Could be Together – Debbie Gibson
10. Aint Goin Down til the Sun Comes Up – Garth Brooks
11. You Oughta Know (alternate take) – Alanis Morissette
12. Pickin Wild Flowers – Keith Anderson
13. Mr Wendell – Arrested Development
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)
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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Tales of Chew Toy
So we took chewy to the vet on Monday to get fixed and his front claws removed. Poor baby didnt know what hit him! Travis picked him up Tuesday morning. I tried to have him bring the cat to my office so i could see him but no luck. After work I picked up jake and went home to get sour cream and pajamas (for tacos at the inlaws and Jake after his bath, respectivly) and of course to see Chewy. When I walked in the door I called for him and he started mewing so i followed the sound... his little feet were wrapped up in red cast looking bandages and he was hiding under Jake's bed. I got him out and after explaining in depth to Jake about where NOT to touch and how not to hold him I let the child pet the cat. briefly. Overprotective much? yes, but not of my child! We sat with him for a couple minutes and I got pjs and sour cream and we went to my inlaws for tacos. I ate at the speed of smell and was off to choir practice while Jake played w/his grandparents.
When we got home we pet the cat a bit but it was bedtime for Jake and the cat was under his bed so i let him stay there. Jake had other ideas. Somehow the cat ended up on the bed - probably not on his own... but that's ok I suppose. I went back out to the living room to work on my crochet some more and heard Mommy, Chewy is stuck.
Panic.
I go to his room and do not see the cat. Um, Jakey, Where's Chewy? In there. In where?
Now, my child has one of those wooden roomstogo bunk beds with the drawers on one side and the desk on the other and the bottom bed perpendicular to the top one. But I digress.
Jake pulls open the 3rd drawer from the bottom (of 4 drawers) and there's the cat, apparently sleeping on a baby blanket. In a drawer. CLOSED!
Um, Jakey, why did you put Chewy in the drawer. I didnt Mommy, he got there by himself. Um, Jakey, why did you SHUT THE DRAWER????? I dont know.
SO i rescued the cat from the drawer but he just cried. Didnt care, i wanted him with me where I could see him and know he wasnt in a DRAWER!!!
Here's pathetic kitty pics.
He was sitting on the dining room chair under the table. silly kitty.
