East of Eden

Heart shaped things!

2012-02-14T12:52:00.000-06:00

As I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but I do love me some heart shaped things. Here's a little something I've been working on...

I was hoping to be finished by today, but no such luck. Things have been oddly busy around here. And I've developed an unsettling addiction to Pinterest which has significantly slowed me down as far as finishing any projects are concerned.

Soon I'll do the full reveal.
And if I'm feeling especially generous, there'll be a pattern to go with it!

Slippers!

2012-01-15T11:29:00.001-06:00

I have been trying to write this post for the past week or two. I've started on it 3 or 4 times, and then something distracts me or I just don't feel like it so I think, okay, I'll do it tomorrow... then repeat.

I don't have much to actually say, I guess.
So, I'm just gonna show you these slippers I made as Christmas gifts.

Nola's Slippers
Various worsted scrap yarns used
Size 9 Circular needles with yarn doubled throughout
Raveled

The first pair went to my mom, the second to my brother, and the third I made for myself.
If you're looking for a great easy slipper pattern these are the ones. They're basically booties made for adults. They're knitted flat then grafted on the bottom. You don't actually have to use kitchener stitch, but I did so there wouldn't be a seam to walk on. This was my first time doing kitchener. I used this video to show me how and I was so surprised by how wonderfully easy it was! Yay!

The only thing that was kind of annoying about this pattern was the picking up the stitches around the foot part. And that was annoying only because the stitches are super tight at first and I'm still a little challenged at picking up stitches, but this pattern taught me a lot about how to do it correctly and make it look nice, so that is a good thing.

Truth be told, this pattern actually looks a lot more eh... sophisticated when you use only one or two colors, but I was determined to bust some of my stash so I decided that warmth trumped sophistication and since no one is likely to wear these anywhere but home, who really gives a hoot.

Let me say that these are wonderfully warm and comfy slippers. They are a bit slippery on a hard floor, just like socks, but they are so warm and if you use wool then your feet won't sweat at all when wearing them. I have already worn mine so much that they look like something passed down from my grandmother.

Here's a little something I'm working on for a friend who just adopted a baby boy.

These pictures are actually just two sides of the same swatch.
Isn't it precious?

Happy New Year!

Knitting Fever, Elizabeth Zimmerman, and Ugly Sweaters

2011-12-12T11:10:00.000-06:00

So I've been wearing my Old, Ugly, First-Sweater-I-Ever-Knitted (yes, that is the official title) a lot lately because I've discovered that Elizabeth Zimmerman was right about a couple of things.
1. Garter stitch is awesome and really, really warm.

Raveled - (to read the whole story of this sweater click on the "raveled" link.)

This sweater can actually be warn as a jacket most days here in Houston and it's perfectly, wonderfully warm. So warm, in fact, that I don't even care anymore about the odd glances I sometimes get when I wear it out in public. Or about the fact that I look like a slightly smaller, slightly cuter version of the Michelen Man when I wear it.

Yes, I've finally picked up a book by EZ, as she's affectionately known in the knitting world. I decided to start with Knitting Without Tears because it's the quintessential beginning EZ book and I must admit I've always been a bit intimidated by EZ and her devil-may-care approach to knitting. This woman is truly a knitting master and, as she likes to say, she is the absolute master of her knitting.

I must confess that I am not. I'm a pattern knitter and I cringe a little every time I stray too far from whatever the pattern says I must do. I'll go so far as to change yarns or even fibers, mostly because I can't afford 27 balls of Rowan SuperExpensive Superfancy Cotton or whatever they're calling it, but that's about it. If the pattern doesn't work for me I move on until I find one that does.

But I've been enchanted by the garter stitch, lately, and no one loves garter stitch more than EZ. So here I go into new territory.

Unfortunately I have a few Christmas things I need to work on before I can really dive into my new garter stitch passion. (Oh yeah... Christmas...) AND I do need to finish up the Abandoned Ripple (also it's now official title)

But after that everyone's going to be seeing a lot of garter stitch around here.
I'm also a little nervous about trying out my first EZ pattern so that should probably be good for a few laughs too.

You are an obsession. You're my obsession.

2011-12-01T11:54:00.001-06:00

A few months ago, I wrote this post about shawls and how I finally "get it" about why everyone is so crazy about them. Well, here's my next confession: I am obsessed with shawls now. I honestly can't figure out how I ever survived and thrived without them. AND I finally knitted one with some of that stash yarn I was talking about in my last post.

Ravelry link

Araucania Atacama- now discontinued

I was worried about trying to knit one because as I've said before I am a s l o w knitter. Also, most of the patterns I see getting ooohed and ahhhhed over are lace knit shawls and despite the undeniable beauty of the lace knitting. I am just not there yet and don't know if I ever will be. Aside from the mind-numbing complicatedness of the lace stitch patterns, I'm just not a lacey shawl kind of gal so I'm not motivated to figure out how to do something that's, strictly speaking, not even really my style. But I found this pattern for the Mara shawl and I thought it was perfect. Exactly the kind of thing I might actually wear and easy as pie to knit. Now this shawl consists of a whole lotta garter stitch, so if that's not your thing, then you probably wont like this pattern, but while knitting this one I discovered that I really love the garter stitch, especially with a yummy dk variegated yarn. For the first time in a long time I found myself enjoying a knitting project so much that I really didn't want it to end. And of course, I finished this one amazingly quickly because I was enjoying it so much.

Here's a close up of the color and the stripes I added to make the shawl bigger. It's still not as big as I wanted it to be, but I really used up every scrap of that yarn that I had and it's now discontinued, so that's that. A word about this yarn: Yummy!
This is 100% alpaca, which is a very warm fiber. In the garter stitch it is so squishy and delicious. I put this shawl on my shoulders any time I'm feeling chilled and in no time at all I am toasty warm.
(I had no idea that just putting a little something warm on your shoulders could make you feel so warm! I am so in awe of that new discovery.)
Alpace, like wool, can be a little itchy, but so far I'm persevering because I love the warmth so much.

Another confession: I already bought some more yarn because I want to make another one of these, but next time in a solid color and much bigger.
Yes... obsessed.

And just to ease my troubled conscience about the abandoned ripple blanket, I also finished a sweater that I started last year and that was languishing in my UFO pile.

Yarn: Caron Country

I actually kind of forgot I had started this one. I think I got discouraged because I knew I wouldn't quite have enough yarn to make the sleeves for this sweater long and at the time I really wanted it to be long sleeved, but after pulling it back out I decided that short sleeves would be just fine and in fact I really actually love the short sleeves. I think for a long time I thought short-sleeved sweaters were kind of silly. Like those open-toed boots that were all the rage last fall/winter? I thought, "What's the point? If it's cold enough to wear boots/a sweater, then wouldn't you need to cover your toes/arms?" But living in Houston, I'm now understanding how it can be chilly enough to want a sweater, but not cold enough to need a long sleeved sweater. And if it gets colder I can always wear a long sleeved shirt underneath and really that's about as cold as it ever gets in Houston. (Still don't really get those open-toed boots, though.)

And that's about all I can tell you about this sweater. I have no idea what pattern I used or if I just made it up as I was going along. All I know is that it's a top-down raglan knit in the round and that the yarn is super soft and lovely and machine washable and if it holds up well I'll definitely use it again.
Perhaps on another shawl?

Playing Hooky (no pun intended)

2011-11-15T08:46:00.001-06:00

I have a few confessions to make...

I've been playing hooky from my ripple blanket. It's not that I don't love the ripple, but sometimes, you just need to think about/ look at/ fixate on another project before the one you're working on is finished. I used to have a real problem with this until I decided that I would only work on one project at a time. But seriously people, ripple blankets take a really, really long time to finish. Especially the particular ripple I love to do which consists of nothing but single crochet through the back loop (sc tbl) until the end of eternity. This magical stitch makes a beautiful fabric that is cozier than should be possible, but that has a wonderful dreamy drape to it. It even makes really cheap acrylic seem wonderful. But it is boring! (Of course, if this blanket was for me, I'd probably be finished by now.)

There's also the fact that for about 2 weeks we thought we might be moving to Chicago. Now as soon as I heard this, I naturally thought about yarn and knitting and making all kinds of things that I don't really have any occasion to knit while living somewhere that only gets cold about 3 times a year. I was thinking about mittens and wool sweaters, (with real wool!) And the imagination was sparking all sorts of inspiration frenzies and visions of walking through snow in a beautiful, perfectly knitted cable knit sweater. But alas, the dream died and the job Mr. Man was hoping to get went to some other (undeserving) candidate (who probably has no appreciation whatsoever for hand-knit sweaters.) And I had to go back to finding things to knit/crochet that I might actually get to wear here in Houston. But by then I'd already raided my stash and found some pretty awesome and some other not so awesome yarns that I'd forgotten I had. Well, this sparked another frenzy. This frenzy had to do with finally knowing what I wanted to make with these certain forgotten yarns.

First up we have Nashua Vignette:

It looks like a lovely yarn, doesn't it.
Well, it isn't.
I bought this yarn years ago (it's now discontinued) to make a sweater, but once I started knitting with it, I hated it. For one thing it is incredibly scratchy. For another thing it's really... sproingy. I don't know any other word to use. What I'm trying to say is that even though it's a worsted weight yarn it behaves like a bulky weight yarn once you start knitting or crocheting with it. It just... sproings up! I had a lot of this stuff, too because I bought enough to make a whole sweater, (but not a bulky sweater because, let's face it, Kate Moss I am not, and who else would look good in a bulky sweater?) It's just been sitting in my stash for 5 years or so but a few weeks ago I had an epiphany about what to make with it.

Can you guess what it is? (See how sproingy?)

Okay, I'll show you...

Yeah, that's right, I made another Half-granny shawl. This one was made more for warmth than for prettiness. I don't really have any plans to wear it out in public. For one thing, it's huge! I was trying to use up all that yarn (I still have one ball left.) And I found a surprising amount of other scraps of very similarly colored yarn hiding out in my stash so I threw that stuff in there too. Now I have a shawl that I can wrap around myself whenever I have to go outside to let the dog out or whatever, but don't feel like putting on a sweater or jacket. Or just for when I'm cold inside, which happens to me a lot. This shawl is very warm, and it of reminds me a little of the kind of thing you might see on an ancient Italian widow. I kind of hated every minute of working on it because of that crappy yarn, but I do have the satisfaction of knowing that it's no longer in my stash and it is exactly what I was wanting when I decided to make it. My favorite part is the little picots on the edge. I need to use more picots.

Okay so even though I do have more to show you of my "playing hooky" projects, I have no more pictures so it will have to come in the next post.

Meanwhile I'd like to know if anyone else is having this playing hooky problem. Also if anyone else has any yarn in their stash that they hate and don't know what to do with it. Anyone?

Still plugging along...

2011-10-12T23:07:00.000-05:00

I wish I were one of those bloggers who could pound out a blanket every 2 weeks. Or that I had something fabulous to show you every single time I blog. Unfortunately, I'm still working on this chevron blanket and it is slooowww goooooiiinng...

Even though this chevron pattern takes longer than some of the others that use double crochet, I really just love the fabric made from single crochet through the back loop. It has such a nice drape, and yet it makes such a warm cozy blanket. Do you have a favorite ripple/chevron pattern?

This one is a gift for the parents of a friend who lost everything they had when their house burned down this summer.

Here it is again, draped over my legs while I work on it:

Every time I make one of these for someone else I want to steal it for myself.
The next one I make is going to be MINE!

Anyone else in the mood to ripple? Join this Ripple Along on Flickr.

Baby Blanket Madness

2011-09-22T11:52:00.000-05:00

Oh dear! Has it really been almost a month since my last blog post? Well, but I have actually been busy. For real!

First I made this blanket for a friend who is expecting a boy in mid-October.

Can you tell this blanket is for a boy? Haha! I usually try to be a little less obvious about using traditional gender colors because
1. I sort of hate pastels and
2. I just love doing the unexpected when it comes to baby stuff, it's just way more fun.

But for this one I decided to go super traditional. I'd been wanting to try the granny square thing with just a few colors and the same square repeated for awhile and I really loved it! I love the way it kind of looks like tiles and that it looks like something someone might have made back in 1950.

My favorite part of this particular blanket is the border.

It's very simple, just single crochet around and around but it makes it look very polished and elegant. Almost serious.

I also knitted some booties.

Now, seriously, aren't booties just the cutest things ever in the history of ever?

Now I'm working on something else for another friend. Here's a little peek...

(You can probably guess what it is.)
And I haven't forgotten about the Goodnight Moon blanket, but it's gonna have to be on the back burner for a little longer.

Do you tawashi?

2011-08-29T23:32:00.000-05:00

A tawashi is actually a japanese word for a specific type of scrub brush, but the term has expanded in the crochet realm to these cute little thingees that people started making and using as scrubbies for their dishes.

I came across these first on etsy. What caught my eye in particular was the fact that they were made out of acrylic. Cheapo acrylic yarn, the scratchier the better. I had always followed the yarn commandment that says, "Thou shalt only use cotton for handmade yarny kitchen thingees." But much to my surprise acrylic does an extraordinary job of scrubbing dishes. I even scrubbed my lasagna pan without soaking it first with above tawashi and it took no time at all and nowhere near as much elbow grease as it usually would. Hmmmm... looks like I'll have to take back my vow to never ever buy Red Heart Supersaver again.

I used this pattern to make the tawashi above. The crochet part was super simple, but I had to watch a video I found on ravelry to understand how to put it together. So I made a little picture tool to show how it's done in case anyone wants to make one.

When I looked up "tawashi" on Flickr and ravelry I found that people are cuckoo for these things. Sort of like useful amurigami. For me the awesomeness of tawashi all lies in the idea of maybe never having to buy a sponge again. And the fact that you can throw them in with your regular laundry. Because I've always been a little creeped out by the whole sponge crawling with bacteria situation. Speaking of which, supposedly tawashi made from acrylic is so good at removing food particles from dishes that you don't even need to use soap. (Of course, I still will use soap, but how cool is that?) There is also some Japanese yarn that has been treated with silver ions to make it anti-bacterial. Yarn made especially for tawashi making! But I'll stick with my Red Heart stash for now.

So far I've just tried this one pattern, but I found all kinds of super cute tawashi pictures on Flickr.

Here are some of my favorites:

1. ks-00b, 2. redblueset2, 3. Leaf tawashi, revisited, 4. Heart Tawashi, 5. it's the circle of fish...., 6. Veggie Tawashi, 7. Happy little orange, 8. granny_square tawashi, 9. Strawberry Tawashi, 10. japanese tawashi, 11. 978452904249 natural tawashi, 12. paw_print

Happy tawashi making!

Goodnight Summer

2011-08-24T12:54:00.000-05:00

I am boycotting summer.
I'm just over it. I am so done.

Merriam-Webster defines boycott as - to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions

Every year around this time I start yearning for Fall and the end of summer. But this year I'm in a downright protest against summer. Here in Texas we're on the 900th day of 100+ degree weather, not to mention one of the worst droughts these parts have ever dealt with. (Okay it's not really the 900th day, but that's what it feels like.) I mean we didn't even get a real Spring for crying out loud! No rain = no flowers. I mean the trees are just gasping out here, folks.

So I was walking through my local craft store sometime last week when I came across this:

Now, usually I scorn the putting out of the holiday things months before the actual holiday, but this year I almost did a little dance! And I thought, "Darn right! If the craft stores can start preparing for Halloween in August well then so I can I!" And right then and there I decided that I'm just not dealing with summer anymore. As far as I'm concerned it's time to start preparing for falling leaves and cornucopias.
So there!

And here at Casa Moi, that means it's blanket making time!

This one is going to be for Mr. Boy. He's pretty much grown out of all his baby blankets, and when I made this one for my friend last year, he loved it! So I vowed to make him a Granny of his own.

I chose to use the colors from Goodnight Moon because he can just stare and stare at that book for... well... minutes. He's a 3 year old boy after all. So no one activity can generally keep him occupied for more than a few minutes.

And I'm also making a baby blanket for a friend who's expecting and whose baby shower is coming up on September 17th. But I can't show you pics of that one yet because you never know whose watching.

So I'll be a busy, busy, crocheting bee for the next few weeks!

Sometimes I knit.

2011-07-22T10:57:00.000-05:00

Not often, but sometimes, I knit. I really love to knit, actually, but it takes sooooo loooonng to finish anything, which means that I hardly ever do finish anything knitted these days, which is why I just crochet most of the time. I can crochet like the wind.

However, every now and then someone asks me to make them something, and inevitably that something is usually knitted.

This hat for example was made for my dad. I made him a hat long ago for Christmas, I think it was? And when I asked him what he wanted for Father's Day it turned out to be another hat just like the other one. Really, a hat? In the summer? You want a hat? Are you sure? Yes. He's sure he wants a hat, only he wants it to be burnt orange (UT colors) so he can wear it to the UT games. And let me tell you, that was no easy task finding the exact right shade of burnt orange. You can't just pick any old orange. I had to take him to the yarn store and we spent quite a bit of time going over which orange is burnt orange and which is Tennessee orange and which is almost burnt orange but not quite. (Apparently to show up to a UT game wearing Tennessee orange or not quite UT orange is a major faux pas. Who knew?) But alas, Dad will have his hat. (Quite a few weeks past Father's Day, but knitting takes me soooo loooonng!)

Here's the pattern I used for the hat, though instead of a rolled brim, I used a 1X1 ribbing for the brim. And the stripe sequence I chose was based on the Fibonacci sequence because it's one of those math geeky things that men think are cool.

And then once I start knitting, well, I have to make a few of these too:

Now these are dishcloths made of cheapety cheap cheap cotton yarn, and they are magic. Magic I tell you! Everyone loves these things, and thankfully they are extremely quick and easy to make. I can turn these suckers out in a day or two. Less if I didn't have a toddler to tend to. They may not look like much, and usually when I give them to people as gifts they look at me kind of like, "Oh... knitted dishcloths... well... thanks... I guess..." But then they always come back to me and say, "HEY! Those things are AWESOME! I need, like 100 more of them!" But really you only need, like, 3 of them because they are damn near impossible to destroy. Unless you're my mother. She always finds a way to tear them up, so I made the above for her. But when Dad saw them, his eyes lit up! "OH! You made us some more dishcloths! Oh I LOVE these things!" Really? Well, that's what I like to hear!

Anyone want the pattern? Here it is!

(In case anyone is interested, when I make them I change row 3 so that the first knit 2 together is an SKP, only because I think it makes a more fetching dishcloth, but it's really not necessary for functionality.)

Salon Effects by Sally Hansen... so far, pretty cool.

2011-07-05T12:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, so remember waaaaaay back when, I mentioned something in this post about trying the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips? Well, I finally did it!

These are the #340 Girl Flower Strips and I thought they would be perfect for a summer pedicure. Yeah, I decided to try them on my toes instead of my hands because, well, a wildflower manicure just seemed like a bit much for me right now.

I did do one accent nail on my hands with the flowers:

Not sure how I feel about that look. I think I might have liked it better if I'd chosen a better color for the rest of the nails. Maybe a sky blue, or a fun summery pink? This shimmery iridescent silver is just not doin' it for me really. (In case anyone is wondering that color is called Silver Lining and the polish is also Sally Hansen- Complete Salon Manicure.)

Also, not sure how I feel about the whole accent-nail-of-a-different-color thing.
I might be too old for these sorts of shenanigans.

Here's a close-up of the Salon Effects:

I'm still not sure if these things are going to hold up or not. I haven't yet showered so, I'm a little skeptical of how they're going to look once that happens. I've read some reviews and most people say they wear like iron, but a few people said they chipped off after a day or two. We'll see!

They were, by the way, pretty easy to apply, so if they do wear well, that would make them pretty f'n awesome.

South Bay Shawl reveal!

2011-06-20T09:53:00.000-05:00

This summer has been crazy so far, what with home improvements to be done and high school reunions to attend. But things seem to be slowing back down again. So let's all hope that I actually start blogging more often again.

Here's the finished project that I teased you all with in the last post:

It turned out to be a shawl that I made especially to wear to my high school reunion, but never actually got to wear it because it was never cold enough inside the ballroom. Just as well probably, because the shawl might have been a little too busy to go with the dress I chose, but I was working with stash yarn, and I didn't have enough to make it elegantly all one color. (This shawl was quite the yarn-eater, especially considering that it's a lace pattern.)

Pattern is called the South Bay Shawlette, and it's a free pattern from Lion Brand (but you have to sign up to their websight to see it if you're not already a member. But it's free to do so and as far as I can tell they don't send too much spam.) You can see how gorgeous the pattern is in the above close-up, and it's suprisingly easy to do, especially if you just follow the diagram. This was the first pattern where I virtually ignored the written pattern and went strictly off the diagram, but I'm pretty sure if I'd only had the written pattern to go from it would have been a much more frustrating pattern. As it was, it almost crocheted itself. Very easy and very nice results. I plan to make another one eventually, maybe in all one color, or maybe in an ombre of a different color pattern because even though at first I only changed colors because I realized I didn't have enough yarn to finish, once I saw the ombre effect I really liked it.

I used two different kinds of yarn, both cotton. The two darker colors were Omega Sinfonia and the lighter blue was Nashua Creative Focus cotton dk. Now I love me some Sinfonia because I love mercerized cotton and I love not having to pay a fortune for it, but that Nashua yarn was so much more luxurious than the Sinfonia. It's egyptian cotton and it really is significantly soften than the regular ole cotton that I'm used to. The only down side to working with it was that it was so splitty, so I had to go super slow on that last section, but after blocking that light blue yarn was even softer that before!

Here's a couple of (really terrible) pictures of me wearing the shawl:

Please everyone, just concentrate on the shawl. See how pretty that shawl is?
Too bad I didn't get any pictures of me looking fabulous at the reunion in the dress with the shawl, but such is life.

Here's a couple of pictures of the finished floor for those who wanted to see that:

We LOVE our new floors!

Home Improvement

2011-05-31T22:41:00.000-05:00

Haven't had a whole lotta time to be crafty for the last couple of weeks because we are doing a few home improvements which involve lots of furniture being moved around and lots of watching Mr. Boy very closely to make sure he doesn't go running off with the cordless drill.

We're (finally!) putting in hard floors in our living room and hallway.

Which means that everything that was in the living room had to be in the kitchen for a couple of days. That was kinda fun and interesting, and I'm really glad that part is over.

We're finished with the living room, but Mr. Man still needs to do the hallway, so I'll be going out of town for awhile with Mr. Boy so he can finish in peace and without having to listen to me say, "Wow, that's really loud... I didn't realize it would be so loud!"

When it's all done, then I'll post pictures of the finished fabulousness.

Here's a little peak at what I've been working on...

Hopefully, I can finish by the end of the week.

Tapestry Crochet Reveal

2011-05-20T07:26:00.000-05:00

Hey! I'm finally ready to reveal my little tapestry crochet teaser I showed in this post.

I've been wanting to try tapestry crochet for ages, but I was too intimidated for a long time. It just looked so complicated and intricate, and though it sounded easy to do, I just couldn't believe it really would be.
Well guess what... it really is as easy to do as it sounds.

Tapestry crochet is crochet's version of fair isle knitting. But like most things crochet, it's waaaaaaay easier to do than fair isle. And, as far as I'm concerned, way more fun, too.

So here's my little bag. Kind of anti-climactic, I know, after making you wait for weeks and weeks to see it. Well, I have no good excuse except that it didn't turn out quite the way I had planned, and then I couldn't decide how to finish it. And then I realized that a couple of the yarns I was using were actually thinner than the others which made the gauge go all off and wonky.

You can really see the wonkiness in this picture. That turquoise and gold colored yarn were both thinner than all the other yarns I used and so the bag sort of indents in that little area. Nothing huge, but just enough to make me less excited to finish it.

And then of course as soon as I started to make it I realized that if I'd made it a little bit smaller it would have been a perfect Kindle case/carrier. And then I realized that what I really, really want is a big bag with the same general pattern and maybe fewer colors. So the enthusiasm factor just kept diminishing until the only thing that could motivate me to finish it was the fact that I'd promised all my loyal blog people that I would show you what it was. So there you have it.

One thing I'm really glad about is that I finally tried a new technique. I am such a weeny about trying new techniques. Isn't that silly? But I really love the tapestry thing, and I plan to do more of it soon. So I guess this was more of a practice project.

Check out this purse I saw in Macy's...

Pretty wild that I saw this after I'd started on mine. I think I like the bigger checker pattern and the muted colors of this one better than mine.

Oh my goodness!

2011-04-27T22:36:00.000-05:00

Today I received my potholders from the swap!

Aren't they just SO gorgeous! I love them all, each and every one. My husband looked at them and said sardonically, "You're never going to actually use any of these are you?" I promptly assured him that I would, but I left out the fact that it would probably be some time (a few days or weeks or maybe a month) before I do anything but just stare at them and sigh in bliss...

Just look at a close-up of these sweeties...

I mean have you ever seen anything more gorgeous! And each and every one was beautifully, masterfully crocheted!

I can't believe that they're mine, ALL MINE!

Still here!

2011-04-13T16:11:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I've been kind of lazy with the blogging these last couple of weeks, but I wasn't just sitting around doing nothing. (Okay, well, not the whole time.) For the past few days I've actually been working furiously trying to get my potholders in for this 2011 Potholder Swap.

I honestly wasn't sure I would be able to make it. I kept going back and forth about which pattern to choose and then I spent a few days trying to decide about whether it was worth all the trouble it would take me, then once I'd decided it was worth the trouble I spent a bit more time trying to decide whether I could actually pull it off or not now that I'd waited until the absolute last possible moment to even start. Ha!

So here's my little lovelies...
(The colors are a bit off here, they're not quite so glaring in real life.)

And here's the back side...

So now I just have to hope and pray that they get there on time, and that the fact that the postage lady absolutely refused to put any more postage on my return envelope than the $3.26 that she says is the absolute limit for first class mail doesn't somehow disqualify me for this swap, because now that I've worked on these suckers until my fingers literally bled, I'm really excited about seeing what comes back to me. Some of the pictures that have been sent in to the Flickr and Ravelry groups are so stunning that I'm just drooling to get my hands on some of them.

I'm also somewhat obsessed with making some more potholders.
Once my fingers heal and come unclawed from the furious crochet fest.

Here's a close up picture of my favorite one.
Notice the fancy-schmancy tags that my husband helped me make.
(Okay well he didn't so much "help me" make them as much as he just went ahead and did the whole thing.)

PS-
Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post. Ya'll are all so sweet!
I had to postpone that tapestry crochet project to get these potholders done, but I will reveal that one as soon as I can.

(To find out what yarns and patterns I used click on the picture which should take you to my flickr.)

Danke!

2011-03-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

How excited am I to get my very first ever blog award!

Thank you so much to Andrea at Apples and Pears for including me.
Now I'm supposed to pick 3 to 5 blogs with fewer than 100 followers to nominate.
Here we go, in no particular order.

101 Thingees
Cozy Things
The Adventures of The Gingerbread Lady
Marjo's Cozy Corner
Sew Loved By You

Some of these ladies I know personally and happen to think they are the most talented people ever, and some are just blogs that I've really enjoyed peeking into. I'm actually not completely sure if some of these have under 100 followers, but whatev.

Click on the links and take a little peek. I promise you wont be disappointed.

And now for a little sneak peek into what I'm working on these days...

More later...

Things I'm Loving

2011-03-19T10:57:00.000-05:00

Doing my nails...

I've been really into having pretty nails lately. I read somewhere, that during times of economic recession, women tend to treat themselves in little ways more often. They buy more lipsticks/nail polishes, things like that, and I can see why. It's a little thing that makes you feel pretty and it doesn't cost much.

Which leads me to thing #2 that I'm loving:
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Now if you're a nail polish freak then I'm sure you've heard of Seche Vite, but if not, listen up! This stuff is seriously cool. It really does make your nails dry fast and it makes your manicure last, as far as I can tell, forever. The first pic of me holding my favorite mug was taken the day after I painted may nails. The 2nd pic is of today nearly 4 days later and there are absolutely no chips and very little tip wear. (Please ignore my sketchy lookin' cuticles.) This is a pretty amazing change from my usual experience with the whole nail polish situation. Usually I have at least one or two chips on day 2 and by day 4 what isn't chipped is wearing down from the tips pretty significantly. As you can see from the somewhat blurry pic there are no chips. None! And the tip wear is just barely starting to show.
Now I've heard that some people have a really terrible experience with this stuff. They claim that all their polish peels off their nails one day after painting them or that it starts chipping less than 24 hours after it dries. I'm sort of waiting to see if anything weird like that happens to me, but so far I'm wondering where this stuff has been all my life.

(BTW- The nail polish color I'm wearing is OPI- A True Ab-Original if anyone is wondering.)

Thing #3:

I love seeing Ian all cuddled with his favorite ripple blanket and pillow. He's actually getting too big for this blanket.
I see a new one in his future.

Spring bag!

2011-03-16T12:32:00.000-05:00

pring has definitely sprung here in Houston this last couple of weeks, which means that I've switched gears from blankets, scarves, and shawls and moved on to warm weather crochet. So far that means bags. I've been a little obsessed with crocheted bags. I'm sure this has something to do with my purse addiction. Did I mention that I have a purse addiction? Well, I do. It's pretty serious. The only problem is that the money situation has been just a leetle bit tight around here lately so no new fabulous purses for me... Unless... Well, hey! I can just crochet myself some new bags!

I've been flirting with the idea of clutch bags. The problem is, I'm not one of those women who can just throw a lipstick, a phone, and a credit card in my purse and be good to go. I have needs, people! Which generally means that I tend to carry around the equivalent of a small suitcase with me wherever I go. But whatever, clutches are so cute and they're suddenly everywhere so of course, I must have one.

Sooooo... Here's my first attempt at a crocheted clutch:

The pattern is called Textured Tweed Clutch from the Fall 2005 Interweave Crochet. (It's also available as a Ravelry download.) I changed up a few things:
The pattern calls for a 100% tweed wool yarn which I didn't use because it's supposed to be a Spring purse and that to me means it needed to be cotton so I used Red Heart's Eco cotton blend instead.

The original pattern is all one color, but I didn't have enough of this yarn in all one color in my stash so I used the two colors I did have. More on that decision later.

The pattern for the base of the purse is supposed to be a seed stitch pattern, but I tried it and it was kind of wonky to work and with the dark color I was using it seemed a whole lotta work for something that you could barely even see so I just switched it up to straight single crochet.

The original pattern calls for a buckle closure, but I didn't have a buckle handy and I had decided that I would not be buying anything new for this project so I improvised with a button hole and a button I happened to have lying around.

So it's cute, right? Look at those cute little bobbles in the close up.

But here's the thing:
As soon as I finished this purse I thought to myself, "Now what the heck am I gonna do with this? Where would I ever wear it?" The colors are, well, all right, but I have almost nothing to coordinate this with. The size is a little weird too. It's not really small enough to just be a cute little afterthought of a clutch, but it's not big enough to truly carry all the stuff I need it to carry. Also because it's weirdly oblong, it's sort of floopy. I had to stuff it with scarves to take these photos but without the scarves it kind of folds up on itself. It truly probably needs some sort of reinforcement sewn into it to help it keep it's shape, but I just don't love it enough to do that much extra work on it.

Here's a couple of pictures with my hand and tucked under my arm so you can get an idea of it's actual size. I tucked the strap inside to see if that would make it any more usable for me, but it just makes it look weird. (Please ignore my oh so stylish tie-dye ensemble.)

So, even though I don't hate it, I don't really love it, either. I'm just going to chalk this one up to a learning experience. Onward I march in search of a clutch design that will work for all my little niggling idiosyncrasies.

A word about the Eco-cotton blend yarn. It is a lovely yarn and I will probably use it again, but not with the puff stitch. Not ever again. It took f o r e v e r to get those little puffs to work with this splitty yarn.

♥♥♥Things I'm Loving ♥♥♥

2011-03-04T16:07:00.000-06:00

Thanks everyone for encouraging me through my ennui! Your words of advice and commiseration were much appreciated. I'm starting to feel the creative juices bubbling up again...slowly, which is why I don't have any crochet to show right now, but I'm working on something that I'm hoping will turn out really cute.

Things I'm loving this week:

My new blog button!

Cute, huh?

I'm extremely proud of it.
Go ahead and grab one from the right side margin if you'd like.

This recipe for lasagna that I made last night. It's called Easy Lasagna and it really is.

I do some little tweaks, like I use half cottage cheese, half ricotta. I use ground turkey instead of ground beef. I use fresh parsley instead of dried. And it always comes out tasting so unbelievably good. I mean, like, the kind of good where you can't really believe that you actually made it.

Well, just try it. You'll see.

Pop on over to Paisley Jade and share what you're lovin'.

Creative Ennui...

2011-02-22T12:46:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm in a bit of slump. A creativity slump, brought on, I think, by mild exhaustion. The husband was gone for 3 weeks on business and it's always just a little too crazy around here for crafting when it's just me and Mr. Boy. Husband is back now, but I'm still in a slump.

In the past 3 weeks this is all I've managed to finish:

I bought these little pillows years ago from IKEA with the intention of making all kinds of cute little cushion covers to throw around different areas of the house. Yeah, never happened.
So I have this one done (the picture shows front and back) and I'm not even all that thrilled with it. It's ok. It's meh.

So my question is: Does anyone have any tips or tricks for getting over a creativity slump? Do you just wait it out or do you force yourself to craft until something excites you again. Maybe brains just sometimes need a break from being all excited and crazy inspired for awhile so they create the Creative Ennui.

Oh well.
I'll leave you with this picture of a cute little magnet I saw at a store the other day.

♥Things I'm Loving♥

2011-02-10T15:57:00.000-06:00

Not a lot of crochet time lately now that Mr. Boy is down to one parent. (Daddy is in Indonesia on business.)
So I've been doing a lot of browsing and playing on-line.

Here's a few things that I've found that I'm loving:

Boat and Tote bags from LL Bean. There's just something so classic and timeless about them and now you can customize your own. I've been playing around with different colors and combinations all week. Here's a link to one of my favorite custom combos if you want to check it out.

This quick bread recipe from Inside a Black Apple.

I changed it up a bit. I used 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 2/3, and instead of just 1 cup of walnuts, I added 1/2 cup each of walnuts, dried cranberries, and white chocolate chips. It came out sooooooo delicious! My picture doesn't do it justice. Just try it because it's super easy to make and it tastes like something you slaved over. I'll bet you have all of the main ingredients in your kitchen right now. I did!

I can't wait to try these Salon Effects nail polish strips from Sally Hansen.

I've already bought some, but haven't had the chance to actually try them out yet. Pictures will follow when I do.

Follow the link and share what you're loving!

♥

Oh Mr. Darcy, can you fetch me my shawl?

2011-02-04T16:40:00.000-06:00

I must admit that when I first noticed that shawls were becoming the thing in the knitting realm, I was a bit baffled. I know something had to replace ponchos once those went out of favor, (which I was really dismayed about because I still love ponchos, but that's a whole other story) but shawls seemed a bit too... I don't know... Jane Austenish to carry over into our current modern times. I mean shawls and texting? It just didn't seem right.

Don't get me wrong. I love all things Jane Austen, myself. I've read every one of her books. I've probably watched Sense and Sensibility at least 400 times (much to my husbands dismay.) That scene where Elinor's shawl falls off while she's taking one of those oh so English strolls and talking to Edward and he tenderly places it back over her shoulder... *sigh.*

But the point is, I just couldn't really see the need to spend hours knitting a shawl and then where would I wear it and with what? I mean I'm pretty much a lounge pants/sweats and tee shirt kind of gal. In the summer I might wear a dress or two, but there's rarely a need for a shawl in a Houston summer.

Then I saw a girl in Starbucks and she had a shawl wrapped around her neck in this certain way so that it was more like a scarf and she looked très soigné, and I thought, well OK, I could maybe pull that off. And then I saw this pattern on Ravelry and I knew I had to make myself one. It kind of goes along with my whole granny craze that I've been on lately.

So I went for a little stash dive and found some sock yarn that I seriously don't even remember buying and before I knew it I had my first shawl. Here's three things I finally understand about shawls and why people love them.
1. They keep you so warm!
2. You can wear them inside without feeling like you're dressed for outside.
3. Shawls are like little blankets that are acceptable to carry around with you all day.

I actually did a little research on the shawl (because that's the kind of thing I do when I get semi-obsessed with something new) and I found out that shawls first came into fashion around the Jane Austenish times (1780-1870) along with all things in any way Oriental. Most everything else soon went out of style (turbans) but the shawl stuck around because it served an actual purpose which was mainly keeping women warm in drafty houses. And to think I used to feel sorry for poor Elizabeth Bennet and Elinor Dashwood freezing their arses off in the English winters with nothing but a shawl to keep them warm. Ha!

(This is as close as I get to soigné.)

Here's Mr. Boy in my shawl. He always gets cold in the grocery store.

By the way, crocheting a shawl is so much less time consuming than knitting one. I used sock yarn and an F hook and it still went fairly quickly. I would have made it bigger, but I kept running out of yarn.
There are definitely more of these in my future. I've just about worn this one out already during this crazy cold winter storm nonsense. (I seriously have already had to mend it!)

Well I'll be durned...

2011-02-02T23:54:00.000-06:00

Look what I found hiding in the midst of my stash the other night.

This project was from years ago. So long ago that I had pretty much totally forgotten of it's existence. This was originally meant to be a felted messenger bag, but somewhere along the way I think I realized that I have absolutely no need for a messenger bag.

So rather than frog it, which would suck and leave me with lots of itty bitty lengths of yarn, I decided to felt it and make it into a kitty bed for my poor cold kitties.

This was my first time to felt anything ever! To be perfectly honest, I never really saw the point of felting things. Seemed counterproductive to spend all that time knitting or crocheting something only to purposefully "ruin" it and make all your beautiful stitches melt together and disappear. Okay, it makes sense for a bag because it makes a very strong fabric, but still...

However, now that I've done it I love it!
It makes such a lovely dense and warm fabric, and well honestly, there is a sort of recklessness and rebelliousness that comes from just wildly tossing your woolen handmade item into a washing machine full of hot water without a care in the world. Like, "Yeah, I'm gonna put it in the washing machine... Yeah, hot water... You got somethin' to say about that...? Huh!?"

And it's pretty cool that even though it's wool, I don't really have to worry about shrinking it in the wash anymore. Love that part.
This picture sucks pretty bad, but I just wanted to show that my kitty bed plan worked. It took Kitty (yep, that's her name) about 2.3 seconds to claim it once I put it on the couch. I tried several times to get a better picture, but this was the best I could do.

So now, of course, I'm obsessed with thinking of new things to felt. Oh dear...

(btw- the yarn is Lamb's Pride Worsted, in case anyone is curious. It felts beautifully and they have every color known to man as far as I can tell. The original pattern was the Good Vibrations Bag from this book. Here it is on Ravelry too.)

♥♥♥Things I'm Loving ♥♥♥

2011-01-28T13:12:00.000-06:00

I can't get enough of this tea lately:

The description on the box says:
"1001 Nights is a mystical blend of pure, high mountain-grown tea from Ceylon caressed with the cut blossoms of roses, orange blossoms, and sunflowers, then bathed in the sweet liquor of red, ripe, strawberries for a drink that delivers otherworldly delights."
Indeed!
It is awesome and if I wasn't afraid of insomnia I would probably drink it all day long.

Valentines Day is coming, so lately I've been obsessed with Heart Shaped Crafty Things. (I don't know why I just capitalized the first letters of that phrase.)

The funny thing is, I actually hate Valentine's Day, too many middle school memories of being a lonely dork and watching all the cool chics get the loot. But paradoxically, I actually ♥LOVE♥ heart shaped things. I don't know why. I think it's a shame that they only get to come out and play during Valentine's time.
BTW- Notice the anatomical crocheted heart? LOVE IT! (To see the original Flickr links and see original artists for each photo, you'll have to click on the mosaic to take you to my flickr page. I did not make those hearts, they're just some of my favorites. But I may try and crochet a few sometime soon.)

It's dark chocolate, need I say more? Loooooove....♥♥♥

This blog has been occupying a great deal of my time ever since Andrea introduced me to it. It's iCrochet and it's nothing but pictures of crochet projects submitted by other bloggers so that we can all converge and stalk each other's blogs and drool over each others projects. I love it and I could seriously spend hours on there!
Thank you, Andrea for the heads up!

I've been obsessed with crochet lately. I do knit also, and I love to knit, but crochet was my 1st love and I find I always go back to it when I'm just wanting to really enjoy what I'm doing and be creative and not have to worry about whether I'm doing everything correctly. It's also great for destashing which I've been really working on lately. I had a sort of a... ahem....yarn problem there for awhile. (heehee ☺)
In particular, I've been loving the shawls. Here's a quick peek at what I've been working on:

Now head on over to Paisley Jade and share what you're lovin' lately!

Granny Square Reveal!

2011-01-23T11:40:00.000-06:00

I can finally reveal the project I've been hinting at for the last few posts!

Tada! It's my first full sized granny square blanket ever! Isn't that crazy that I've been crocheting for so long and never made a granny square blanket?! That's like Crochet 101!
(Well, I made a baby blanket for a friend a few years ago, but I don't have any pictures of that one, and it was probably pretty funky looking because I don't think I had figured out how to join them very well, yet. So like most crafters, I just pretend that the stuff that I did that sucked doesn't exist. If I can get away with it.)

Okay so, stats:
Yarn: This was a true stash busting project using various acrylic yarns that I had in my stash. Some that I have no idea at all where they came from or why I bought them. (And yes I still have A TON more stash yarn left.) The yarns that I know of are Lion Brand Wool Ease, Caron Simply Soft, and Red Heart Supersaver. The main color that all the squares were edged with is Caron One Pound. I have previously pledged once before never EVER to buy Red Heart Supersaver again, so let me just renew that little vow here and now. HATE it. And unfortunately, I still have quite a bit more left in my stash. Why did I buy it in the first place?

When I was making the ripple in the picture above I bought some Red Heart because, well, it was so cheap and the colors are so pretty, and even though I knew Red Heart is like the Vienna Sausages of yarn, I just figured that it wouldn't be all that bad. Heh. Well, it is. It's that bad. It feels like cheap carpet, it wants to "catch" on the hook while you're working with it, it actually squeaks it's so plastic. The only good thing about it is that it softens up and actually feels pretty nice after just one trip through the washer and dryer. Also it will last forever. I mean it does not die. This blanket could be found somewhere, completely intact in an empty field after a nuclear blast had removed all life from the earth. But I digress...

Size: Throw sized about 59" by 39". I wanted it to be something that could be put comfortably on the couch and not overpower everything, but be big enough to curl up under. It ended up being perfect because I used up almost every single bit of the Caron One Pound.

Joining method: Crocheted together on the back side using slip stitch. Sorry, but didn't take any pics of the back side before sending it off to it's owner.

Blocking method: Just washed it on gentle in cold water and dried it on medium. I've found that is the best way to block acrylic. Below are some pics before blocking.

Ian loved this blanket. I had a hard time keeping him out of the pictures.

I see many, many grannies in my future. But more on that next post.

Just a hint of what's coming and some questions answered.

2011-01-08T10:18:00.000-06:00

A sore wrist from crocheting non-stop is keeping me from completely finishing the project I'm working on. I can't wait to finish it and finally get the pics up. Here's a hint...

But it's going to be a few more days until I can show you the FO. Are you excited?

Andrea- To answer your questions: The crocheted socks are maybe a bit thicker than knitted ones, but I wouldn't say they are quite as thick as hiking socks, though they could definitely be used for that, depending on the type of yarn and hook you use. But I wear them with everyday shoes all the time with no problems. They are fabulous and wonderful and I hope you make a pair because everyone should experience the fabulous wonder of crocheted socks.

Yes, I did finish that ripple blanket! In fact it's one of my favorite FO's ever and I can't imagine why I only posted that one tiny picture of it. I must have been thinking that I would post more later then totally forgot about it. Here's some pics of Ian with the blanket when he was still a baby:

This blanket has actually become his favorite blanket ever. (And by favorite I mean that if he sees me put it in the washing machine or dryer he cries and reaches out for it like his heart is breaking.) I actually made it before I had even conceived him, just because I wanted to try a ripple blanket and I had a bizarre amount of stashed mercerized cotton yarn. My plan was to make it and just have it around waiting for the next time I needed a baby shower gift, but once I finished it, I loved it so much I ended up keeping it. Then I got pregnant myself not long after.

Every time I see Ian grab it and hug it to himself or find him in the morning with it wrapped around his middle, (soaking up the pee from the leaking diaper) I feel such a rush of pride that he picked *my* blanket out of the truly unbelievable selection of blankets he has available to him to be his Favorite Blankie.

(I actually made him 2 blankets. The other one is knitted and it's pretty cool, but he doesn't care about it at all.)

Glad you like the banner! I really loved it at first, but no one ever seemed all that impressed with it, so I was actually just the morning before seeing your comment thinking of changing it to be a collage of all my favorite FOs. (Kind of like your banner? heehee) But since you like it so much, maybe I'll keep it a little bit longer. ;-)

Inspiration pics

2011-01-06T09:25:00.000-06:00

Lately I like to stalk people on Flickr and see what they're up to. Here's some of my favorites. Apparently 2011 is going to be all about color for me. (Big surprise, huh?)

Do you see Ian hidden in there? He is always an inspiration.

1. Forever Blanket, 2. Stripe Bag, 3. Two Toned Granny Square 002, 4. , 5. crochet hand crocheted violet colorful shawl, 6. Blue ribbon blanket, 7. Finn's blanket, 8. Untitled, 9. False Start Cardigan

So far I'm liking 2011!

How did I not know about this?

2011-01-03T19:33:00.000-06:00

I've seen these Dryer Balls in the grocery store claiming to eliminate the use for fabric softener or dryer sheets, and every time I saw them I was tempted to buy them. But something always stopped me because I guess I just thought, "If it seems too good to be true..." Plus they are kinda pricey. Then the other day I was randomly browsing around the internet and happened across this all natural wool version of the same thing. So of course I thought, surely there must be a way to make these at home and lo and behold I found this super simple tutorial on how to make your own!

I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to eventually and when I do I will blog about it.
Of course if anyone else wants to try it and leave me a review in the comment section that would be cool too... (hint, hint... shameless vying for comments)

(BTW- I'm actually really glad I didn't ever buy those ones I saw in the grocery store because word on the street is that they don't really work, or if they do work they leak harmful chemicals into your clothes while eventually ruining your clothes and/or the inside of your dryer. Also they can be loud. Soooooo not good.)

Hello 2011!

2011-01-02T14:28:00.000-06:00

Hello all and Happy New Year!

I didn't make any resolutions because I never do because, honestly, really. Does anyone actually ever follow through? And why should you give yourself one more thing to feel guilty about not doing it? Which segues nicely into what my New Year's Resolution would have been if I had made one...

I need to blog more. Yeah, I really do. I had this vision of me blogging my little heart out when I started this blog, but well, really, I just don't have all that much to say. But this year, I really will make more of an effort to keep up and keep engaged. Even if it's just to post a cool picture now and then. Even if I only have 2 people who read it.

Here's a little sneak peak at what I'm currently working on...

I can't show any more than that because it's a gift for someone. I don't think she reads my blog, but you never know.

People can be sneaky.

Bad Penny (badly photographed...sorry)

2010-10-24T20:45:00.000-05:00

Voila!

As promised here is a picture of what I've been working on all summer. Yeah, it took me all summer long to knit this. And yeah, the pics kinda suck because I took them on my phone, at night, in my bathroom. I really was going to try to take some really nice pics. I was going to stage it all up and maybe figure out how to work the timer on the "good" camera. Well... I was gonna do a lot of things. But I'm finally starting to realize that if I wait for the perfect opportunity, or if I wait until I have time to do it perfectly, it just doesn't happen at all. So this is what you get.

Above is a close-up of the stitch definition. This is my first top-down raglan sweater and I'm particularly stoked with the way these things knit up. I love the little pattern created by working in the round and increasing twice in one place in the same place every other row and how that eventually makes the front, back, and two arms for a sweater. That is just the freakin' coolest thing ever.

Here's a pic of me, braless, no make-up, in sweatpants. (But we're just going with it. Remember the important thing here is that I actually finally posted the pics. We're not judging. Right? And to be fair, this is how I look probably about 80% of the time anyway.)

I have no idea why I decided to make the sweater this short. The pattern itself is a bit short, but not quite this short I don't think. I just really have no explanation for this. I'm not a belly-showing kind of girl. Never have been, even before I had a child. Even when it was the "cool" thing to do and "everyone" did it. Even when I took dance classes every day and had pretty nice abs. I just don't understand. Anyway, when I wear it in public I wear a camisole underneath.

Here's the side view. Still with no bra and sweatpants. (This is character building. That's what this is.)

The pattern is Bad Penny from knitty.com.

I didn't do the cute little lace design thingy in the bottom ribbed section. I just didn't have the patience for knitting from a chart, but I may someday make this sweater again and I will make it longer and I might even do the lacey thing because I do think it's cute.

I used two different yarns because I ran out of one and it's discontinued. So the ribbing and a small portion of the bottom of the sweater are totally different colors, but I'm pretty pleased to see how well they worked together. (The one that's not discontinued is Katia Degrade.) Both were dk weight cotton so I went down to a size 5US needle for the body and a size 3US for the ribbing and knitted the pattern in the largest size to make up for the difference in gauge.

The Katia is a really nice yarn with a velvety feel and is surprisingly light weight for a 100% cotton yarn and BONUS: it washes and dries in the dryer beautifully.

Yes, I have been knitting... among other things.

2010-10-14T08:03:00.000-05:00

Once again, I'm falling behind on my blogging. The funny thing is, I've actually been doing stuff. I knitted a super cute short-sleeved cotton summer sweater, and I'm working on a long-sleeved winter sweater. I just haven't had time to actually take pictures and post anything about them. I promise. Soon!

What I've been doing is fighting a low-grade, constant, panic attack.

I've been having GI issues for awhile now and I finally went to a doctor and they have been poking and prodding at me for the last couple of weeks.

Here's what I've learned about this:

1. Even though I was really scared of having a tube camera shoved down my throat, endoscopy procedures are no big deal. The anesthesiologist gave me something called twilight anesthesia which means you are awake for the procedure, but you have absolutely no memory of it. So if you ever have to do this, don't sweat it.

2. Colonoscopy procedures are torture from hell. Not the actual procedure, because of that handy twilight thingy, but the prep for it. Whoever came up with that should work for the government. If they gave those they suspected of terrorism that Golightly stuff, I'm absolutely positive they would reveal all manner of sins to make it stop.

When I read the directions and it said, "Drink 8 oz every 15 minutes until entire contents have been taken." I thought to myself. "Okay, I can do that. No big deal." But by about the 3rd serving of this stuff I was like, "Oh dear, I don't know if I can do this..." I mean we're talking a gallon of liquid people. And once the stuff starts taking effect... Well, let's just say that I have spent few nights in my life in that kind of discomfort/agony.

I wont go into anymore detail here. I don't want to scare off my 2 blog followers. The results that came after the colonoscopy? They found a rather large polyp that has been making my life miserable for some time now. They think it might possibly be cancer (! Yes I am a little terrified about this) and/or Crohn's disease. So now I have a 2 week wait to see just how much more misery awaits me. Tomorrow I have a CT scan that I get to drink a big helping of Barium for.

Bottoms up!

PS- We also moved Mr Boy into a Big Boy Bed and so far that has been going fairly well! YAY! Next hurdle is potty training...

The Dog Days...

2010-08-25T16:40:00.000-05:00

This last Sunday, on the 22nd to be precise, I happened to look out the window at the trees that sit just outside our fence in front of the lake and noticed that some of the leaves are already starting to turn, then breathed a small sigh of relief.

The Dog Days are over.

For those of you who don't know, the Dog Days, according to Wikipedia, are the hottest, most sultry days in the northern hemisphere that usually fall between early July and early September. In other words, the most suckiest, crappiest, part of summer.

Personally I have little use for summer once the 4th of July is over. If it were within my power to somehow skip it by putting myself into some sort of self-induced coma or hibernation I would do it without hesitation.

Wiki says: The phrase Dog Days comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in close proximity with the sun was responsible for the mind-numbing, hot ass, weather. They were popularly believed to be an "evil time when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, Quinto raged in anger, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies."

Yep... sounds about right to me. And they didn't even mention the swarming, biting insects that descend and prosper with a maniacal frenzy right around this time. As if things weren't bad enough already.

For me, the Dog Days have always been the absolute most craptastic time of year. If anything bad is going to happen, it's bound to happen during the Dog Days. If I look back over my life I can't help but notice that all the worst break-ups, arguments with best friends, job losses, money failures, what have you, almost always fall in this magical time of late summer, just before Fall comes. Or maybe it's not that bad things happen more often, but that when bad things happen during this time of year it seems so much harder to deal with. And even if nothing especially bad happens this is always the time of year when life becomes more about survival, just getting through every single day when I barely have the energy or the will to get out of bed and walk the short distance to the couch where I can spend the day watching movies and eating Totinos Pizza.

I've learned to be careful during the Dog Days. I've learned not to expect too much from myself or anyone else. I tread lightly, or not at all. I don't try to do anything too challenging, or thought-provoking. I don't try to improve myself. "Just get through it, just get through it," is my mantra during the Dog Days.

In Ancient Rome the dog days exended from July 24 through August 24. The Old Farmer's Almanac lists the date as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11. The Book of Common Prayer lists the "Dog Daies" as beginning on July 6 and ending August 17. For me it doesn't begin or end on any specific day, but I feel it in my bones when it comes, and I feel it in my soul when it's over. It's like that involuntary sigh that you heave after a loud noise finally ends, or the way your muscles relax when a nagging pain finally ceases. It doesn't always come with that first day after the long summer when you walk outside and you feel that shift in the air from humid heat to cool crisp.

This year it's still hot as hell outside, but with that first sight of turning leaves I can tell that the Dog Days are finally over.

I can feel it.

*sigh*

Kombucha update

2010-08-09T23:25:00.000-05:00

I am proud to say that I have, several times now, successfully brewed my own Kombucha tea. At first I really was worried that I would end up growing some sort of lethal flesh eating fungus or mold, but so far everything has gone smoothly and I've ended up with some beautiful bottles of my very own Kombucha.

Aren't they gorgeous! I'm so in love.

So for anyone out there who is scared of the home-brewed 'booch, I say go for it. My body is oh so much happier when I have my everyday fix.

Eventually I plan to do some experimentation with different kinds of tea and juices and stuff. For now I usually just add about 1/4 cup of grape juice in each bottle and let it sit and ferment on the counter for 2 days before putting it all in the fridge. I think it's common to do 4 days for that 2nd fermentation, but I'm too scared that the bottle might explode in my kitchen so I just do 2 days which creates plenty of fizz for me.

And I can't help but mention that I actually like my home-brewed KT better than any of the store bought kind I've ever had.

For those of you who "hate" Kombucha, I have to say that I would feel the same way if I had only ever tasted some of the stuff they sell in the stores. (Some of it really does taste like feet.) Now that some brands are showing back up in stores again, I've experimented a little just out of curiosity and so far, I haven't come across anything that makes me want to stop brewing my own.

The Summer the Kombucha Went Away...

2010-07-19T20:05:00.000-05:00

Whatever else happens this summer, hurricanes, oil spills, Lindsay Lohan's ass finally ending up in jail, for me the summer of 2010 will always be the Summer the Kombucha Went Away.

For awhile now I've had pretty chronic stomach/bowel issues. Yes, I've been to the doctor and after a myriad of disturbing and embarrassing tests, all they could tell me was that I was "fine" and they didn't really know what was going on, but they gave me some antacids that actually made me feel worse. I wont go into the number of things I've tried to make myself feel better, but I will say that the ONLY thing that made me feel significantly and almost instantly better was Kombucha.

What is Kombucha, you ask? Well in short, it's a fermented tea that no one knows exactly where it came from or who started making it or how long it's been around or how they discovered it. If you google Kombucha you're likely to find way more information than you ever wanted about it, but if you want a quick succinct overview here is Wikipedia's definition.

I had seen it around the health store and heard little things about how great it was supposed to be here and there, but I honestly didn't pay much attention and put it in the same category as Goji berries or Acai berries, or whatever new thing they are saying cures everything magically this year until they find out that really it doesn't do much of anything, or maybe it might even kill you. Then one particularly bad weekend for the tummy had me wandering around the healthfood section of a store looking for anything that just might make me feel better, or at least a little bit less like wishing I were dead. I found myself in front of a cooler filled with GTs Synergy Kombucha. My friend who I happened to be staying with that weekend had mentioned awhile back that I should try the stuff (what she actually said was that she "really REALLY wanted me to try it!") but I had poopooed the idea thinking that it was just one more thing that wouldn't work and might possibly make me feel worse. But that particular weekend I thought, "what the hell..." and picked up a bottle to try it.

...aaand I've been semi-addicted ever since. Now one thing I've noticed about Kombucha is that people either psychotically love it, or they hate it with the fire of 1000 suns. There is no in between, there is no "meh..." Well, put me down in the column marked "psychotic love/addicted." I lurve this stuff. I want to marry it. (You get the picture.)

And even though I started drinking it because it made me feel better and at the time I didn't really even care about the taste that much, in fact after that first drink I would have said, "Hey, not as bad as I thought it would be..." if anyone had asked me. Now I just freakin' crave it...

So of course they've banned it from every store in America.

Now, I'm not going to get myself started on why they've taken it off the shelves. It's apparently a labeling issue that has something to do with the minute amounts of alcohol that the fermenting of the tea produces being maybe, possibly less minute than they originally thought. Still not enough to really even give anyone a buzz, mind you, but more than what they thought... Maybe!

(I have various conspiracy theories about what's really going on here, but I wont go into that right now.)

The whole point of this post is that after literally going through all the stages of grief, I finally went ahead and brewed some Kombucha on my own and it was crazy easy!

First I had to grow my own culture or SCOBY as it's called. I used half a bottle of the store bought GTs Citrus that I had been rationing out, and I said a little prayer to the Kombucha Gods and/or Goddesses and followed the directions on this page for making a SCOBY. Actually I didn't follow the directions exactly. I actually used only half a bottle instead of the whole bottle, and my bottle was a flavored Kombucha instead of the original, and I used about 3 tablespoons of sugar instead of 1/4 cup. But it still worked out just fine. Here's a pic of my little SCOBY while it was growing.

I know it looks kinda gross, but I love it and am so proud of it. Just like I would be my own child. I don't care if it's ugly. It's mine.

Now I'm almost finished with my first full on batch and I'm so excited because soon I get to have Kombucha again!!

I'll post later about how it goes...

Haekelbeutel!

2010-06-30T12:12:00.000-05:00

This is what I made out of those mystery squares!

It's called Inga's Haekelbeutel which my German sister-in-law tells me means "bag" or was it "crocheted bag?" Well, anyway, that's what the pattern is called. It's free and super easy if you want to make one of your own. It's basically a bunch of squares sewn together in a clever way. The pattern calls for 16 squares, but I only did 12 because I didn't want the bag to be so huge and because I didn't feel like making anymore squares. I also used a square pattern from this book instead of the one on the pattern because I wanted something a little different. You can use any darn kind of square you want as long as they're all the same size.

I gifted this bag to my mom for Mother's Day, but eventually I plan to make one for myself that's lined with fabric as soon as I learn to use and stop being afraid of my sewing machine.

I used mercerized cotton scrap yarn for this bag, but I think it would be really cool in linen or hemp also. I still have SO MUCH of this yarn left!

Back on the Chain Gang...

2010-05-15T12:25:00.000-05:00

I've been working on something easy and fun.

Here's a picture:

So I'm back to crochet and really enjoying it.

I always forget how fast crochet goes!

This yarn is mostly Omega Sinfonia from my stash with a few other random stash yarns worked in, but Sinfonia is one of my favorite mercerized cotton yarns. It's inexpensive, but the fabric it produces is so elegant. I love working with cotton because the stitches come out so crisp and defined so that you can really appreciate the beauty of each stitch. Love the colors too!

The pattern is from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks. The square is # 19 Lacy Cross, which is beautiful and also super easy.

These squares are going to be made into something hopefully beautiful and serviceable.

More to come...

What have I been doing...?

2010-04-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

Well at the beginning of this blog I swore I would write about anything I wanted to write about, not just knitting and crocheting. Still somehow it turned into a blog only about knitting and crocheting.

Well, I haven't been doing a whole lot of either lately.

It happens, that fallow time that all creative people reach every now and then when inspiration and motivation waver and there just doesn't seem to be the energy and spark there to start something new.

Or finish up something old.
I have a hat that I need to finish. A Christmas gift (yes, from last Christmas) that I need to finish and send on it's way. All I have to do is sew up the seam.
Meh. Just don't feel like it it.
Not today.

I have various other projects that I've been mulling over starting...
Meh.
Not yet.

Lately, I've just been being. As much as I can. I've been cutting my hair and painting my nails and playing with my son and taking little mini-vacations to see family and friends.

Just being.

It's kind of nice.

Why did this take so long?

2010-03-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

So a friend of mine sent me an invitation to her little girl's 1st birthday party one day. It was sent a good 3 weeks before the actual party which should give me plenty of time, even with a rather rambunctious 2 year old on my hands, to make a simple baby sweater. Right? Suuuuure.....

Well let me just tell you right now, that's not how it happened. And the thing is, I still can't really explain why. I was so sure this would be a quick and easy project. So Sure. I read up about it on Ravelry, and almost universally the word on the street was that this baby could be worked up in a matter of days. Certainly 3 weeks should be plenty of time.

And how long did it actually take me? Well, I lost count, but I'd say it was a little over a month. Now there were some factors contributing to this.
1. Out of town husband for 2 weeks which means no one to relieve me and give me some knitting time.
2. Never really have knitted a baby sweater before. But how hard can it be? It's just a small sweater for God's sake.
3. Had to start over once because it was turning out way bigger than I expected according to what I thought was a "good enough" gauge estimation.

Still this was supposed to be easy, and it was NOT.

The pattern is from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts, (yet another reason why I thought it wouldn't take too long), but it's also available for free on-line. Maybe someone else will have better luck with it. Though I should say that it did turn out just as cute as it was supposed to turn out, it was just way more trouble than I wanted it to be.

I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease, which is a good substitute yarn, but it's a bit thicker than the recommended yarn. It's also a little harder to work with than wool would have been. The sleeves, which were done in the round, then attached to the body ended up being a bit of a stretch, also there were huge gaps to be sewn up under the arms aside from the kitchener attachment method in the pattern (which by the way, I totally ignored and did a three needle bind off instead). In retrospect, if I ever attempt this pattern again, I think I'll just go ahead and do the sleeves back and forth and seam them up the inside of the arm. Which will be just as much trouble as all the kitchener and sewing up gaps nonsense ended up being when I followed the pattern as written.

I also omitted putting buttons or beads on because I didn't feel like doing button holes by the time I got to that section and I didn't have any beads that would fit through the seed stitch without being too small or too big.

All I can say is... thank God, it's over.

Just in time for the warm weather.

Happy Birthday!

2010-01-17T11:04:00.000-06:00

Two years ago today I had a teensy baby boy and my knit/crochet life changed forever!
I can't believe it has been two years!
I can't believe it has been two years and I've made so few things for my own kid! Bad needlecrafter Mommy! Well all I can say is that during this two years almost every person I have ever met had a baby and I felt compelled to knit or crochet something for almost all of them.
(We wont mention the things I started and still haven't finished.)
Anyway
Today is about Ian.
Happy Birthday, sweet boy.
Mommy promises to knit you some more stuff.

Emergency Hats!

2010-01-13T09:40:00.000-06:00

So lately my knitting has been all about hats, because if you haven't heard, it is cold. I mean like, seriously cold here in Houston these days. Well, actually today it's kind of nice. It's around 41 according to Yahoo weather anyway, but even the fact that I am calling 41 "kind of nice" should tell you just how cold it has been. Because usually 41 means that I stay inside and don't go out unless I have to. But after three (or was it four) staight days of highs of 35 or so and that was for about 2 hours during the warmest part of the day just before the sun sets, 41 at 9a.m. sounds pretty durn good. Now I know, I know, for those of you living in Antarctica or Fargo or Germany or hell, even Kansas, you're thinking, "Hell! That's not cold! Yesterday we had a high of -25 now that's cold!" But here in Houston, it just never really gets that cold. It hardly even freezes. Our green stuff stays green pretty much all year round , true it's kind of a sad brownish green in the winter, but it's green, and if it dips down below 32 we all get a little excited and start sanding down overpasses and covering pipes and whatnot. You want to call us weenies and make fun of us for it, well, all right. But come talk to me next time you have one of your sweltering heat waves of 90 degrees, cause 90 is a cool summer day in Houston.

I guess the point I'm making is that it's all pretty relative. And the other point I'm making is that I did not have one decent hat to see me through. I've said before that I don't have such good luck with the hats. I just have a hard time making one that fits my tiny pinhead and looks good and doesn't itch my forehead like the dickens. And after a few misguided and ridiculous attempts in my early knitting career, I finally pretty much gave up on hats altogether. I did manage to make one, just one, that I actually like and wear somewhat regularly, but it's cotton and it's only good for regular Houston winters. I've blogged about it here. But mostly, I just go without because hell, we live in Houston. I mean no one ever really needs a hat in Houston, right? Wrong.
I needed a hat.
The boy needed a hat.
A warm hat.

Voila! A warm hat!

The pattern is Simple Pleasures by Purlsoho and it is aptly named. It was an extremely simple and pleasurable knit, well, except for the 6 inches of ribbing. I'm not particularly fond of ribbing, but let me tell you, it is worth it because once you fold that double strand of ribbed knitted wool and it covers your ears, it is wonderfully, blissfully warm! I used Koigu instead of whatever the pattern calls for because that's what I had already in my stash. For the fuzzy part I used Anny Blatt's Fine Kid instead of Kidsilk Haze because, once again, that is what I had in my stash. Both yarns worked beautifully as substitutes. And the Kid mixed with the Koigu makes a beautiful and also very warm material. I would love to have an entire sweater out of that stuff.

Maybe someday.

The coolest thing about the pattern, in my opinion, is that it can be knit entirely on one size 6, 16" circular needle. Yes, my friends, one needle, no double points! Yes, the last couple of rows are a little tight, but as the pattern says, it can be done and I did it! Technically speaking, I was supposed to change to a bigger needle once I finished the ribbing, but I didn't because I didn't have a bigger 16" circular needle and I was not going to brave the frigid cold to go buy one. Nevertheless, it all worked out wonderfully in the end. I used a size 6 instead of the size 8 and 9 that the pattern calls for because, as I said, that's what I had, but also I have a strangely small head and I hate a too big hat. That sucker needs to be snug to keep out all the cold and wind. And the 2 by 2 rib has plenty of stretch.

The end result is pretty cute, too! If I do say so myself.

The boy also got an emergency hat:
Simple Hat by Debbie Bliss. The pattern can be found in her book, Baby Knits for Beginners. (From which I long ago checked out of the library and photocopied the patterns I liked.) This is the second one of these hats I've made for the boy. The first one fit him from the time he was tiny and actually still fits, but only stretched to it's limits and the yarn I used wasn't that warm. So I made him the next one using some stashed Lion Brand Wool Ease that I happened to have and I upped the needle size from a 4 to a 6 which made it perfect for his toddler head. I also left off the little nubby end this time. He's a toddler now. He should have the dignity of a nubless hat.

Though I don't use Wool Ease anymore because it pills too badly and starts looking like something your grandmother might drag out of the attic to show you how cute and tiny you once were after about 2 washes, I really like the way this hat turned out. The variegated navy/forest mixed with the solid blue looks much better than I thought it would. Though honestly I didn't really care. I just wanted to use up some stashed yarn and have a warm hat for the boy.

He actually likes and wears his hat which is more than I hoped for!

400 things.

2009-12-06T00:14:00.000-06:00

Today I had about 400 things that I was supposed to do that I didn't do. No good excuse, just freakin' didn't do them.

Christmas season is looming and every year I tell myself I'm going to start early and every year I don't.

We were going to put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving because I've always wanted to be one of those people that puts up the tree right after Thanksgiving. Well, Husband had to go out of town to Singapore for work on the Saturday after Thanksgiving which meant the Friday (tree day!) was spent running around packing, making sure that everything that needed to get done around the house before I'm left alone with the Boy for a week got done so no tree day. Okay so we'll do it when he gets back. Like the moment he gets back. Well that was yesterday and today... we just freakin' didn't do it. We didn't do ANYTHING. *sigh*

So, darn it, I've got to do something. So here's a post. I don't have much to show, just some dishcloths that I made for a friend for a hostess gift because she cooked up a storm for us on Thanksgiving. Cooked up a storm while taking care of a 3 year old and a 12 week old. So, girlfriend deserves some dishcloths.

I actually made her 3, but I never did get a picture of the 3rd one. The pattern is Grandmother's Favorite. I used size 6 needles and I actually did a bit of modification.

Instead of knit 4 then starting the increase, I knit 4 again on the next row before starting the increase. Then for the decrease rows, instead of using knit 2 together for both decreases, for the 1st decrease I did Slip 1, knit 1, PSSO. Then did the rest as the pattern says. Then once I got down to 6 sts, I did the first decrease, skipped the YO and did the second decrease to get me down to 4 sts again. Then BO.

It just seemed to look better, more even this way, though that might just be my imagination.
Okay, so at least now today I did one thing that I've been needing to do. I posted a blog.
399 to go...

Austin trip

2009-11-11T09:56:00.000-06:00

I spent the first few days of November in my home town of Austin.

The back porch at Mom and Dad's...

Ian at the park...

and some delicious looking yarn from Hill Country Weavers that I wanted to buy SO badly but didn't.

It was a pretty good time.

I only bought 2 skeins of superwash merino so I could make myself some fingerless mitts to replace the ones that I accidentally felted while I was there. (grrrrrrrrrr) No pictures of the yarn I bought yet. I'll take some once I've finished the mitts.

Note to self: No more making fingerless mitts out of feltable yarn.

Halloween ROCKS!

2009-10-31T23:53:00.001-05:00

FirstHalloween 031, originally uploaded by reneewestberry.

Mr. Boy's first Halloween was a total success!
Hope everyone else had as much fun as he did!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Reminiscing...

2009-10-28T16:00:00.000-05:00

So I'm trying to be a "good" knitter. I have a fair amount of almost finished projects and even though, with the new crisp, fall weather we've been having (which, by the way, is somewhat rare in these parts) I'm itching to start something new, I'm forcing myself to finish at least some of what I've started. I will not start so much as a pair of socks or fingerless mitts until I've finished at least 2 projects that have been sitting around for severeal months now. One of them actually has been sitting around for about a year. Part of the problem is that I'm fairly sure that once these projects are done I won't even really like them anymore. I've just gone too far to rip them and start over and I can't stand seeing them lie around the house anymore. (Yes, I keep them out in the hopes that having to see them every day will somehow inspire me to finish them. Does that actually work for anyone?)

So anyway, until I finish these projects, there's just not much goin' on in my life to blog about here at Chez Eden. Even the Halloween hubbub has died down somewhat. I lost my steam somewhere in there so some of the other super cool paper crafts I had planned for Halloween will have to wait till next year. At least I managed to get some raven and owl silhouettes up in the window before I completely lost all motivation.

So anyway, I was rummaging around in my closet yesterday when I came across my first ever knitted sweater. Man, is it ugly.

Here it is, in all it's glory. All garter stitch, in Lion Brand Wool Ease, which I thought was just the best yarn ever at the time and I couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to use anything else. I crocheted the bright pink trim on later using crab stitch, thinking that all that rusty orange just needed a little something to make it just a little bit more something. Now I do like these colors together, but I now understand that this doesn't necessarily mean I should be wearing them. Out in public on a hopelessly pilled and very obviously handknitted sweater. Ah well, you live and learn.

In the close-up, you can see just how awful Wool Ease looks after a few trips through the washer and dryer, which is why I don't use it anymore. And this photo is after I cut all the little pills off of it, though I don't know why I even bothered.

Still, I must say that at least this is a very well-made sweater. The fit is perfect, which is amazing for me because even now I rarely manage to get something to fit just the way it should. Must have been beginners luck. The seams are pretty good too. It's warm and comfortable and wearable. I just don't wear it anywhere but inside the house.

You've come a long way, baby.

Now I know that Wool Ease kind of sucks despite the fact that it's cheap and can be run through a dryer. Now I know that garter stitch is better left to blankets, babies, or edging. Now I know that many things need to be considered before choosing what color or colors will work for a pullover. Also that pullover sweaters are usually too warm for Houston.

Now I know.

BTW- The pattern I used is called Earn Your Stripes from this book. (I did it all in one color because at the time I was intimidated by the notion of carrying my colors up the side. teehee)

Halloween Banner and some new socks

2009-10-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

I finally did some decorating for Halloween. Not finished yet, but I did manage to make a pretty cool banner.

It was easy, but time consuming and after doing this, I seem to have lost all motivation to do anything else.
I did have fun playing with paper and stencils and scissors and glue. Made me feel like a kid again. I spent a lot of time in the scrapbooking isles at Hobby Lobby and Michael's. I never realized how much money those scrapbookers must spend! Oooh La La! That is one expensive hobby!

I also managed to finish another pair of crocheted socks.

Same pattern as the last pair of socks I did, but this time I did esc instead of sc for the cuff part. Still not sure whether I like it or not, but the Serenity Sock yarn I used was softer and prettier than the Red Heart and Sole.

Now I'm not sure what to do next, but I do have a lot of UFO's that I could attend to... Hmmm...

Fall is coming! Fall is coming!

2009-09-25T17:10:00.001-05:00

Short little post just to show off some pics I took today with my phone. I'm doing the 365 Project on my Flickr, which is basically just taking a picture a day for a year. I am definitely NOT a photographer so compared to the other 365ers, mine will probably be more just of a journal of what I did this year than an impressive thing to show off to people. Plus, even if I was a photographer, since I use my camera phone for most of my pics, I'm not expecting too many really quality pics.

However, today there must have been some Fall Magic in the air because all my pics were taken with my phone and they all came out pretty fantastic. I actually had a hard time deciding which one to choose for my Day 36 photo.

I've decided that gourds are equally, simultaneously beautiful and ugly.

Just some pretty and colorful corn.

I call this one "Pumpkin Fairytales." I didn't make the sign in the picture look like that's what it was saying on purpose. I only noticed it after I saw the big picture on the Flickr page.

This was taken while I was still sitting in the car. It's the one I used for Day 36.

My favorite one of the day. I really just took this on a whim because they were SO pretty. Shows what happens when you don't think about something too hard.

God, I just LOVE Fall!

10 Cool things about CROCHETED SOCKS

2009-09-07T00:29:00.000-05:00

1. Crocheted socks are easy!
Seriously. They are. Back in the day, when I was a new crocheter, I picked up this book from the library, thinking that I would maybe make me some socks. I read through a couple of patterns until my eyes crossed and returned the book thinking to myself, "Well, that's not gonna happen..." The patterns in the book are actually easy, but they weren't easy enough for me at that time. (I like easy things, in general.) If only I had known that:
2. You don't even really need a pattern.
I'm not sure what made me start thinking about crocheted socks again. I guess I was getting tired of trying to think of summery things to knit or crochet. (I'm SO ready for Fall to be here.) So I was browsing around ravelry and I came across this pattern, and I thought, "Well, I can do that..." It's really more of a simple, general explanation than a pattern, but somehow, it was just what I needed to give me courage to try to make me some socks. And low and behold...

Before I knew it I had one sock finished. Which leads me to cool thing number
3. Crocheted socks are fast!
I took me maybe a day and a half to finish this one sock, and that's while running around after a very busy 19 month old. Which leads me to
4. You only really need some yarn, a hook, and 2 stitch markers.
Also maybe a needle to weave in the ends and sew the afterthought heel closed. (Though if you want you can also slip stitch it closed. Which I tried on the first sock and it worked, but wasn't as pretty as sewing it closed.) Now, let's just take a moment to fully appreciate the magnitude of #4 here. You only basically need one hook and some yarn. That's one hook compared to 4 or 5 double pointed needles or two circular needles or one super long circular needle. I don't know about anyone else, but for me that is a big deal. For one thing, my little one loves to sneak up to me and pull whatever I'm working on out of my hands. Let's just imagine for a moment how devastating that would be if I were trying to juggle 4 or 5 needles and he ran up and grabbed one... Not a pretty picture. But when he grabs my hook, I can just giggle at him, chase him down, and finagle the hook out of his hand, then get right back to work, redoing the two or three stitches that got pulled out by his mischief. "No problem, sweetie... aren't you cute..." So maybe #4 should be, "Crocheted socks make you a better Mommy."
5. You get to use sock yarn.
I, for one, have always gazed longingly at the sock yarn. Especially now that you can even get it at any old craft store that also sells Red Heart Super Saver. But I never really bought any because I never made socks. Sure you can make other things with sock yarn, but I never did. But now I plan to happily browse through the sock yarns, just dreaming and scheming about all the cool socks I'm going to make. Yippee!
6. If you use an afterthought heel you can replace the heel part when (not if) it gets worn out. Now there are other heel methods that can be used when crocheting socks. There's the short row heel and the gussetted heel. Both of which are sort of copies of the heels of knitted socks. But I can't really see any great benefits to either of those types of heels. Looking on ravelry I saw a lot of complaints and confusions related to both these heel types. Even so, some crocheters seem to see them as superior in some way to the afterthought heel, maybe because they're harder, or maybe because they copy the knitted sock heel. But personally, I think the afterthought heel is the greatest thing since sliced bread. For one thing it is spectacularly, extraordinarily easy to do. For another thing, I think it's a whole lot prettier than the other ones, mainly because with the afterthought heel I can keep the lovely spiraling stitch pattern that I started out with, and that you can only get by spiraling, instead of interrupting it to suddenly start working back and forth in rows. It gives the finished sock a sort of continuity that looks really beautiful so that you can't necessarily see where the sock ends and begins. I love that.
7. You can custom make them to fit your foot exactly.
In fact that's why you don't really need a pattern. Because you try them on as you're making them to see when to do the next thing.
8. If you make a mistake, it ain't no big thang.
Since this is crochet, not knit, making a mistake means just pulling out the hook ripping to exactly where you need to, then putting the hook back into one live stitch and moving on with your life. It also means you can play around a little. You can try new things, be creative, try a ripple or a ribbed cuff or a fan-stitch, or lace, or filet crochet, tapestry crochet... the possibilities are almost endless.
9. Crocheted socks are very comfy, very warm, and Yes, you can wear them with shoes.
I don't know who started the nasty rumor that crocheted socks can't be worn with shoes, but I'm guessing that same person probably can't sleep with a pea under her mattress either. The fact is, if you use a small enough hook and thin enough yarn (I used an 3.5mm E hook with Red Heart and Sole yarn) they can be easily worn with shoes. They are a little thicker than the thin socks that you can buy in packs of 6, but they aren't like slippers. The stitch pattern that single crochet makes is a little different than stockinette stitch, but I got used to it pretty quickly and I'm fairly sensitive skinned. If you're skeptical, go ahead and give it a try. It's a quick enough project and if you don't like them you can always give them away to someone as a gift because
10. Crocheted socks make great gifts and people are impressed by handmade socks, knitted or crocheted.
As soon as my mom saw them she tried them on then "ordered" 2 pair. Though some knitters may turn their noses up at crocheted socks, non yarn worshipping people generally don't even know the real difference between knit and crochet. All they know is, "Hey, someone made me a pair of socks with their own two little hands! How cool is that!" Personally, I love the fact that because crochet can't be duplicated with a machine, crocheted socks can't be bought, only made. So there!

Update: The pattern I used to make this is no longer available apparently. The link isn't working anymore. Too bad because it was sort of perfect. But I found another one that is similar, though it starts at the cuff and works down to the toe instead of toe-up like I did for this one. (Toe up is easier, I think.) Soon, I'll have to write out the sock recipe that I used to make these.

Halloween Tree!!

2009-08-02T21:30:00.001-05:00

Halloween Tree!!, originally uploaded by Hell'sCook.

Yes, people, I'm already starting to think about Halloween. You see, Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. Chalk it up to being the child of an intense health food nut who only allowed candy on holidays and birthdays and how could I help but choose Halloween as my favorite? I mean, it's an entire holiday almost totally dedicated to candy! It was the only time in the year where it was acceptable to stockpile as much candy as possible and hoard it or gorge on it at will!

But now that I'm older and I can't eat that much candy without suffering severely in one way or another, it has become more about just... acceptable spookiness. The pagan in me just loves the fact that it's a holiday entirely dedicated to celebrating the dark side of things. You don't have to celebrate the birth of any deities or give of yourself in any selfless way. You don't have to run around like crazy buying a crapload of gifts for family plus any friends that you think just might also buy you one. No one is expecting you to cook or bake large amounts of food and invite family and friends over for cheer and goodwill, nor do you have to endure anything resembling a midnight mass. In fact, one of the great things about Halloween is that you can turn off your porch light and ignore it almost completely if you so choose and no one will find it strange or rude or uncaring. OR you can go completely nuts and decorate and bake and dress up and throw a wild party and that will be just as equally accepted by all. I LOVE IT!

The past couple of years, despite my love for the holiday, I have pretty much ignored it. Last year I had a baby who was too young to fully appreciate it, plus I was too tired from taking care of him to do anything other than buy a bag of candy and throw it in a bowl for any trick-or-treaters who came along. The year before that I was pregnant with that baby and so nauseated that just the idea of candy or the smell of burning pumpkin made me want to hurl.

But NOW, oh now! I am ready or at least I intend to be ready. I'm going to make up for those lost years and then some. I'm going to make homemade Halloween decorations. I'm going to bake and maybe even decorate sugar cookies. I'm going to carve pumpkins. I'm going to take my wee one, who is finally getting really good at the walking thing, and costume him up and go trick-or-treating. Oh yes, I'm going to do it all! And I'm already thinking about it all right now so I won't run out of time or be overwhelmed.

I probably won't have a Halloween tree, but I like the "spirit" behind the idea.

(ps- notice the countdown widget at the bottom of the page)

Frock Finished!

2009-07-29T21:55:00.000-05:00

Finally finished the Frock Camisole. It was super easy and it was just as cute as I wanted it to be.

I"ll probably knit it again because it really went fast and it's very comfy and somewhat flattering. If I do knit it again, though, I'll pick a different yarn and knit one size bigger. The Caron Spa is lovely and oh so soft, especially after washed and dried, but I just think this top would be prettier and maybe drape a little better in a cotton yarn. The Spa makes me feel like I'm wearing a nightie top. It would be really nice for a comfy oversized pullover or cardigan, and I'm already planning to use it to knit my son some pants once it gets cool again. (If it ever does get cool again. This summer feels like it's going to last forever!) The top fits, but it doesn't fit the exact way I was planning. I have a little too much boobage for this size.

Here's a close up of the yoke:

I love the way the reverse stockinette curls up the straps like that. I made a few booboos on this part, but the pattern was pretty forgiving. I also made the straps about an inch shorter than the pattern calls for, but I might make them longer next time.

I think this is the first garment I've ever knitted in the round and I am now a big fan of knitting in the round. No seams to sew and once you're done, you're DONE! LOVE THAT! I used to avoid the circular needles because they just felt weird to me, but I'm over it. It's all about getting things done quickly now.

Here's a little preview of what I'm working on now:

I'm not going to say what the pattern is yet, because I'm just not sure how or if it's going to work out. It's a bit wild!

Selfish knitting mood

2009-06-11T23:10:00.000-05:00

This is what I should be working on right now. It's a sweet little baby blanket for a friend of mine whose baby was born some months ago and will probably, by the time I'm finished with this blanket, be somewhere close to graduating from high school. Okay, no, that's an exagerration. But seriously, I should have finished this long ago. Especially since it's such an easy, lovely pattern. And especially because I spent so much time trying to come up with just the right colors. (Vintagey, 1940's because those are the colors that always remind me of the mommy and also because I wanted to use up some scrap yarn.) But I'm in one of those selfish knitting moods. I only want to knit for me right now and I only want to do really easy, really instant gratification projects.

Hopefully this mood will be satisfied once I finish with this pattern. I didn't take any in progress pictures of it because most of the time I find those pictures pretty boring, but also because I'm lazy. I'm really close to being finished and I'm hoping that it fits and looks as fabulous as I imagine it looking.

I'll let you know.

Big project coming up...

2009-05-31T10:55:00.000-05:00

I'm still in the planning/inspiration phase of this project, which is actually my favorite part of any project. I love the planning, dreaming, wondering part of projects even better than I like finishing it. Probably why I have so many UFO's floating around.

I've been wanting a bedspread for our queen size bed ever since the weather became warmer and I realized that a crocheted blanket is the perfect thing to keep you just warm enough during the hot Houston summer months. I've always used comforters year round, but now, after having a baby, I find I sweat like a horse at night if I'm under a comforter. Right now I have a ripple blanket that I made last Hurricane season on the bed. It's pretty and it looks nice, but it's not quite big enough to cover the whole bed and it's bit bright for my decor ideals. I'm looking for something a bit calmer and classier. If I had more time and patience I would do something like this:

I want that classic one-color crocheted bedspread look, but with a bit of a modern twist, but really who has time to sew all those freakin' squares together? Not me. So I did some looking around and came up with Andalusia. It's a free pattern from Berroco and it's pretty much perfect for my needs right now.

It's still sewing squares together, but the squares are bigger so it shouldn't take as long, and I like the little flower detail, but that's it's not too flowery. I don't want to drown my poor DH in crocheted girliness, but I want something a little classic and feminine that reminds me of those antique crocheted bedspreads you see on Grandma's bed or now, mostly in antique/vintage stores. This pattern is only big enough for a throw, but I'm going to just keep adding on squares until it's as big as I need it to be. I may try to find some sort of border, too, but maybe not. I kind of like the clean lines of the sc border, not sure if I want to mess with that.

Here's a detail of the square close up:

Love that little teensy flower!

Now the main problem is that I can't quite decide what color I want to do. I'm not used to having to settle on just one. I like my colors! I thought about doing just the flower part in one color, then everything else in another color, either two very different colors, or two shades of the same color. Like dark green and light greeen or gray and white, but I think that would mess with the general antiqueyness that I'm trying to create. And then there's also just which color do I want to choose. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go with pure white or even off white because I have a small child and 2 cats and a dog. No white. But a soft grey might be nice, or even a taupe. Still not sure and it will probably really come down to just whatever I see in the store when I go to get the yarn. I've pretty much decided that I'll use Cotton-Ease for the yarn, inexpensive, but not too cheap and it shows great stitch detail, which I really like for crochet. Also, machine washable and very durable. I'll probably do some swatching too, just to see what looks good and which size hook I want to use.

More on this later...

Aaaaat Laaaast... my love has come along...

2009-05-21T22:16:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Warm Cap with Brim/Swirls Cap
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Fantasy Naturale Multi
Hook: Size F
Size: Custom Fit for my teensy head

This is the Magic Hat. I decided, on a whim to make myself a hat this winter. It was one of those things where you just suddenly decide that you need to drop everything and make yourself a hat. (I don't really know if this happens to anyone else, but it happens to me.)

First off, I should say now that I have bad mojo when it comes to hats. They just never work out, no matter how hard I plan, or how carefully I pick out my pattern. It always turns out wrong somehow. Either too big or too small or it fits but it looks stupid on me. And at one time I had just given up on hats entirely. Just decided that I wasn't really a "hat person." But then for some reason I decided to try again. Maybe I saw a hat on someone and liked the way it looked and got jealous. Or maybe I was just really cold. I really don't remember. Probably it had something to do with wanting to buy myself some yarn and the only way I could justify it was to tell myself that it would only be a couple of skeins... just enough for a hat.

My first candidate was Le Slouche by Wendy Bernard. Well, I made it and it turned out looking pretty good and then it just streched and stretched and stretched until it was covering my eyes. I'm thinking that had to do with the cotton yarn, but I'm not sure if I just made it too big or what. Anyway, it didn't work out and I didn't like it enough to make it all over again, plus I decided I wanted a hat with a brim anyway. (I'd been seeing these cute little slouchy brim hats everywhere and I HAD to have one.)

Well, to make a long story short, I eventually had to resort to changing from knit to crochet, then I ended up having to combine two different hat patterns to get the hat I wanted. And I had to crochet in some elastic around the base to keep it from stretching out. (A little trick that I took from inspecting a bought hat that was cute, but too small from me.) There were times during my Hat Journey where I almost gave up. I must have made this hat maybe 4 or 5 times before I finally figured it all out. So maybe I should call this the Perseverence Hat. The Holy Grail Hat. Whatever. It's Magic to me because I finally have a hat that I love. I had to modify the pattern greatly to get this particular hat, including going to a whole other pattern to get the brim. The pattern itself is easy, but it's more of a suggestion than a pattern as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, it all worked out in the end and now I have at least one hat pattern that I know fits my head. WOOHOO!

Love that I can wear it with my hair down, or all tucked up inside, too.

I liked the yarn, especially the color, but I think if I make it again, I'll choose a solid color. I always feel like variegated yarn looks kind of cheesy in crochet and had I known I would end up switching to crochet I would have chosen a solid color to begin with.
Also, you might notice that the brim doesn't really match up with the little seams very well, which makes the hat look slightly wonky.
Oh well.

(Modifications on ravelry)

Finally some FO's!

2009-05-19T23:11:00.000-05:00

Pattern:
Clapotis (knitty)

Yarn:
DMC Senso Harlequin in "Earth"

Needles:
Size 6 (straight)

I actually finished this Clapotis awhile ago, but life got busier and crazier so I didn't have a chance to download the pictures. I took this picture with my feet because I was so proud of the Pedicure I gave myself, but the scarf looks pretty good too if I do say so myself.

Here's a close-up:

Isn't she beautiful, my friends?

Oh, words alone cannot express how much I love this scarf. Now I understand why everyone in the world who knits has made at least one of these babies. (And why most people make more than one, which I plan to do sometime in the future.) Not only is it truly beautiful, but it's actually one of those things that is fun to knit, at least according to me. Some of the people on ravelry complained about the endless boredom of it, but personally, everytime I got to drop one of those stitches I got a little, eh, shall I say charge!

And as great as it is to knit, it's even better to wear. I wore this thing everywhere as soon as it was finished. It looks good with jeans and a tee-shirt, with a dress, whatever. And since I made mine in a cotton blend it's the perfect weight, not too heavy, but it keeps me warm.

The only thing I'll do differently if I make another one is to make it just a leetle bit longer, more of a stole size, because that's another fabulous thing about it, that it can be worn as a scarf or a stole. (I toyed with the idea of making this one longer, but I was too paranoid that I would run out of yarn.)

I'm also really happy about the way this yarn knitted up. DMC Senso is a lovely yarn for a Clapotis. It's sturdy and strong, but light at the same time. I guess that technically it's a crochet thread, but whatever. It's fabulous for a Clapotis.

More FOs soon!

I'm still here...

2009-04-02T11:53:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it has been quite some time since I've posted here, but that's ok since I don't think anyone really reads this blog. But I have not just been sitting around. I've been knitting and crocheting my little ass off and I have a LOT of finished projects to brag about. I just need to stop procrastinating and download the pictures from my camera. Well, it will happen soon. I promise.

Just not today. (Haha!)

Clap, clap, clap it's CLAP-O-Teeeee!

2009-01-05T08:42:00.000-06:00

SO! Last week I started a Clapotis. Yes, despite the fact that I have a sweater to finish that I've been working on for months. Despite the MANY baby items I need to knit for my ridiculously fertile friends who all seem to have babies due within the next few months, despite my OWN baby who is in some serious need of some cute little knitted baby bell bottoms. Despite all this and more I started a Clapotis last week.

It happened when I went to my LYS on a whim while I was finishing up my Christmas shopping. I have no idea why I went in there. Perhaps I just needed a safe place away from all the Christmas crazy. Or maybe it was just the joy of being able to look at yarn without worrying about the baby. From my experience baby in a yarn store = bull in a china shop.

So there I was just browsing and fondling like usual when I came across a Clapotis that someone had made and just sort of draped, casually, across a display shelf. Now, I had, of course, heard of the Clapotis. And in my mind I think I thought something like this, "Hmmm... that's a clever little pattern...maybe someday, but probably not..." And I really didn't see how it had become such a craze/addiction for so many people. I mean it's just a scarf, right? And I really have no need for anymore scarves. I already have a ton that I never use anyway. I mean, I live in Houston for crying out loud. We have exactly 2 or 3 days of scarf weather per year and on those days I usually just stay home. And even though people say the pattern is easy, the directions looked pretty frickin' complicated to me, and one of my knitting philosophies is that if it's too complicated then it's not for me. But more on that later. The point is, for several reasons I just did not really ever think that I would catch "the Clap."

But then I saw that Clapotis just lying there, casually, but seductively, almost as if it didn't even really want to be noticed (but it knew that it would be.) And I picked it up and I slipped it around my shoulder and around my neck and just like that... I caught "the Clap." (It's apparently outrageously contagious, inflicting it's victims with even the most casual of contact.) I HAD to have one. Now, admittedly, part of the luxury of that particular Clapotis was probably the yarn, which was Blue Heron Rayon Metallic and about $40 for one hank, thank you very much, but seriously beautiful and probably worth every penny. And I did actually consider buying it just so I could have a Clapotis just like that slutty one in the store, but I managed to take hold of my sensibilities just in time and then I ran out of that store.

I went home and I tried to forget about the Clapotis, just not think about it at all. I mean I was seriously busy, here. I had a ton of stuff to get done and a ton of projects already started and needing to be finished and I could not allow myself to buy any more yarn right now anyway. But before I knew it I was looking up the Clapotis on ravelry, you know, just browsing, just wanting to see what everyone else was doing and thinking about it, no big deal. I should have known it was all over once I looked on ravelry. 9335 Clapotis projects and counting. So I thought, who am I to try to resist. But what really finally convinced me was that I realized I had the perfect yarn in my stash already. (DMC Senso Harlequin) I bought it probably a year ago just because I liked it. I had no idea what I would do with it and I just bought all that the store had left, which wasn't a lot, but then I came across 2 more balls a few months ago on sale and I bought those two, still having no idea what I would be using it for. So total I had 800 yards. Perfect. Kismet. I mean how could I prevent this from happening when it so clearly wanted to happen. And I would technically be doing a good thing by using up some of my stash. Right?

Well, then I had to figure out the pattern, and I'll admit, I was intimidated. I mean there was just lines and lines of abbreviations with parentheses and kbl and pfb and kfb and p2tog and all kinds of stuff that I only knew how to do in theory, having never actually done it before. And then while looking through the ravelry group for the Clapotis where people just get together on line and rave and contemplate and gush over the Clapotis, I found that there are spreadsheets for this pattern. Spreadsheets!

Ok, so I printed out my spreadsheet and I sat down to start the pattern and right at the beginning I'm stumped. Pfb. Purl front and back? WTF? How do you do that? Well, I looked it up and I'm still not sure I'm doing it right, but it's working and that is good enough for me. All in all, I probably had to do the start up rows 4 or 5 times before I stopped messing it up, but now I'm tootin' along and am almost to the part where I can start dropping stitches, which from what I've heard is one of the highlights of the joys of the Clapotis.

So far I'm enjoying the process though I can tell that it will probably become a bit tedious after awhile, but I can't wait for the finished product. The yarn I chose is technically a crochet thread, so it's very light. Almost fingering weight which is perfect because I'm really hoping to be able to wear this scarf despite the mild weather of Houston. And I'm loving the earth tone variagation of the yarn. I don't even mind the occasional pooling which I know annoys some knitters, but I think is rather interesting and pretty, especially if it's something like a scarf that won't be stretched over any bumpy body parts.

More pictures soon!

Finally!

2009-01-04T00:24:00.000-06:00

So here are some pictures of what's been keeping me busy these past few weeks...

I made a bunch of these for our Christmas tree since my theme this year was "unbreakable things," and I wasn't sure I would have enough ornaments to make it look fully festive enough. Plus I just think these are the coolest things ever.

I made this paper chain after seeing one for sale at Gardenridge. (It wasn't paper but a sturdier pliable plastic, but I still couldn't believe that anyone would actually pay for it. Plus the store one was only in red and white. Rip off!) I had forgotten completely about these, but I thought they would be perfect for our unbreakable tree. Yes, I used staples instead of glue. It went way faster and these are never sturdy enough to last more than one year, so I say do what you have time to do. Why get precious about it.

As if Christmas decorating wasn't enough to do I also volunteered to help a friend with her baby shower. (CRAZY!) But it was actually a lot of fun and I would have gone way crazier if I hadn't had so much Christmas stuff to do. I got the diaper wreath directions here. The middle picture is of these delightful little things called oreo balls. They are SO crazy delicious and SUPER SIMPLE to make. Just check out the recipe if you don't believe me. The last picture is of the baby booties I knitted for the shower gift. The pattern is Ruth's Perfect Baby Booties and it's also pretty easy and very quick. I was nervous about it the first time I knitted it because it was the first time I had ever done short rows, but it turns out short rows are pretty easy. And everyone loves these little things. AND they really are the only freakin' things that will stay on wiggly baby feet.

YAY! The finished tree!

This is what I did with all our very pretty, very dangerous or breakable ornaments.

SO I had a LOT of fun with the decorating, but I learned my lesson.
1. Never EVER volunteer to help with a baby shower that takes place anywhere near Christmas.
2. If you're going to make a lot of homemade decorations for Christmas, start decorating in late October instead of early December.
There was actually a lot of stuff that I found on line or saw somewhere else that I wanted to try, but I just ran out of time.

All in all, though, I had a lovely Christmas!

Phew!

2008-12-22T10:55:00.000-06:00

Had to disappear for awhile. Had some Christmas decorations to make and put up and a baby shower to help plan.

I'm guessing since no one actually reads this blog yet that's all ok. I have been doing a lot of stuff and taking a lot of pictures, but I'm still planning some Christmas stuff and have a lot to still get done. So nothing interesting to post yet.

Soon, though.

Meh...rry Christmas...

2008-12-10T12:50:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to get into the Christmas spirit, but try as I might all I can think of are the many things I need to get done by then. Mostly I have a baby shower to plan for December 20th. (What was I thinking?)

Maybe if I decorate my own house for Christmas it will get me in the mood. Here's the question, though. How do you decorate a house and a tree when you have a crawling 11 month old who likes to get into everything and very little money to spend on decor! No glass allowed. Glitter probably not a good idea either.

Hmmmm... Ojo de Dios anyone?

Also known as "God's eyes." Remember those? Surely everyone of us has made one at one point or another. At summer camp, or Girl Scouts or just in school as an easy, not too messy craft project?

Much to my surprise, I found that God's eyes were not invented by some crafty, clever Girl Scout den mother in the 70's, there is actually a history behind them. You can read all about it here if you want. But it's much more fun to just make one.

They're super easy to make. Here are instructions if you need them, but basically you're just wrapping yarn around some sticks.

This one here is made with twigs and embellished with bells and beads, if you want to get fancy. Some people get really fancy and really big, too!

I love finding things like this and trying to make it modern again. I think a tree trimmed with lots of God's eyes is going to be very retro cool (and hopefully toddler friendly, too.)

Speaking of retro cool...
LOVE IT!

I'll be sure and post my own pictures when I've made some of my own.

Foamy Fun

2008-12-04T22:58:00.000-06:00

So, one of my favorite things to do is to look up how to do things on the internet.
Today I looked up How to make Foam Soap.
It's incredibly easy.
Click the link for directions.

Plus, it stretches out your soap so you can use one bottle for a LONG time. AND you can buy some of the really good, like, Williams Sonoma type stuff and make it really worth it. They have some luscious scents for the Holidays.

That's it for today.
Have fun!

Glass Nail File

2008-12-01T10:29:00.000-06:00

Last Christmas my mother-in-law gave me a glass nail file as a stocking stuffer. I had used one before at a friend's house and had just thought of it as something to use if you didn't have "real" nail file handy. I mean it seemed like something that was more decoration than functional. (I mean how precious can you get? A glass nail file. La di da.) But then I was reading an article about nail maintenance (and I'm sorry but I can't for the life of me remember what sight I was looking at) and the article basically said that to get the best and healthiest results while filing your nails, you should really invest in a glass nail file. Well, shut my mouth. So I did some research and whaddyaknow, glass nail files are amazing little things. They are significantly superior to regular nail files in several ways.

First of all, they are healthier for your nails in two ways. One, they are so gentle that they don't create the tiny little fractures at the tip of the nail that most files create causing your nails to chip or split. This means that over time you can have stronger, longer, healthier nails. Two, they are completely sanitizeable. You can boil them, run them through a dishwasher, disinfect them with alcohol or simply use hot water and soap and you will not destroy them. And if they get wet, they dry quickly and completely. So that means no more fungus or bacteria or any other thing that can easily grow in all the crevices of a regular nail file. So if someone asks to borrow your nail file, you don't have to give them a full medical exam or a lecture on hygiene. You can just wash it with soap and hot water after their finished or if you're really worried, boil it.

The second great thing about them is that they are pretty much indestructable. I mean, yeah, they can break, they are glass after all, but it's harder to break one than you might imagine, and they never wear down. Not ever. So if you buy one and you're careful, it could conceivably be the last nail file you ever buy. (Or you could get lucky and someone will give you one.) And if you buy one of the bigger pedicure files, you can also use it to slough the dead skin off of your feet and heels. And you can use them on both real and fake nails. Such a deal!

And there's one more thing that I didn't read anywhere, but I swear that it's true. It makes your manicure last longer. The tip of your nail is so smooth after using a glass file that the polish goes on to the tips more smoothly and evenly and therefore is less likely to chip!

I will admit, a glass file can be a bit expensive. I saw them at anywhere from $6 to $15, but I think it's totally worth it. AND I found a place on line that is discontinuing all their glass files, so they are super reduced. I'm not sure how long the sale will last, but I picked up a bunch to give as stocking stuffers for Christmas for about $15 for all six of them. What a great stocking stuffer, huh?

Merry Filing!

(and they're pretty, too. these are handpainted, but you can find them plain, colored, and etched as well.)

Lovin the Half Moon

2008-12-01T00:31:00.000-06:00

So I did my non-traditional french manicure but before I could find the time to take a picture it was chipped and a mess (and really it didn't look all that great to begin with.) Must remember always ALWAYS use a base coat. I usually do, but I was out of town and had forgotten to pack it so I did it without and the results were less than fab.

Well, it all turned out OK in the end because I actually found a manicure that I liked even better. I'd seen it years ago in some advertisement or the other. They were trying to make the model for the ad look 1930ish and she had this cool manicure and I remember thinking, at the time, "I've GOT to try that someday." It's called a Half-moon manicure and it was popular in the 1930's.
Basically, back then, it was fashionable to just leave this little half-moon thingy (the lunula) at the base of your nail unpainted or painted white. In the 1920's it was actually fashionable to leave both the lunula and the tip either unpainted or white as shown below.

But really, who has time for THAT?! And I think it looks kinda dumb anyway. But I really dig the 1930's version and after some web-searching I found I was not the only one.

Apparently, Dita Von Teese is also a big fan and is helping to bring the style back. I found a few other pictures of a less traditional version.

I also saw a picture of just the lunula painted either white or black with the rest done in a clear gloss, but I can't find that picture again. I didn't much like it since the black lunula sort of looked like someone had bruised themselves somehow and the white just looked kind of blah, hardly noticeable for all the trouble it would take to do it.

So I tried my own version tonight with the half moon just left unpained then the rest of the nail in a deep purple. So far I'm really liking it. If it lasts any time at all, I'll take a picture. I'm just too lazy to do it right now.

(By the way, those french manicure tabs work just as well for the half moon manicure, too.)

To tip or not to tip...

2008-11-25T13:57:00.000-06:00

So I'm thinking of painting my nails. "Big deal," you say, while rolling your eyes with boredom. But it kind of is for me. There was a time in my life where my nails were never seen in public unpainted. That was mostly in high school, then college life took over and I learned that you should let your nails breathe for at least 24 hours between polishing so they don't turn yellow and brittle. And 24 hours would turn into 48 then 72... and I was no longer a nail diva. Then I had a baby and it was all over for my nails. I mean between breastfeeding and sleeping and diaper changing and eating and etc, well I was lucky to get a shower in there somewhere, much less a manicure. And really if I did get some time for myself was I really going to waste it doing a manicure. I think not.
Well recently I am coming out of the mommy coma. My son is 10 months old and I can actually do a manicure after he goes to bed and be relatively sure that I can have overnight for them to dry completely.
So now comes the dilemma. I'm kind of into this non-traditional french tip idea. Not sure why, but it seems appealing to me lately. Usually I'm a sort of no non-sense, traditional nail polish kind of girl. Red, pink, tinted clear, the wackiest I usually would get would be silver, or maybe a glitter. But something about the idea of the french manicure with the non-traditional colors is calling to me.
It looks ok in the picture above, but I'm worried that if I try it, it will look too bizarre on me. I mean I'll admit that when I see weird nail styles on other people I usually think they must still be in high school, or they wish they were still in high school.

Well, I'll let you know what I decided. And I'll take pictures if I decide to go for it.

Inspiration

2008-11-25T08:35:00.000-06:00

As promised, here are some pictures of granny afghans that have inspired me:

I'm leaning towards the first two examples for what I have in mind for my friend. I really like the classic look of the same color in the last row. It looks very vintage and classy if white or off-white is used, as you can see in the last picture, but I want something a little more fun for this particular friend which is why I like the idea of the last color being a true color instead of a neutral. I think the trick of this is to choose a good base color. One that isn't a neutral but can act as one depending on the value. I also really love the picture of just the crazy grannies with no apparent rhyme or reason, but I suspect that this crocheter spent a significant amount of time picking which colors would look best where. Though it's a beautiful blanket, it looks a little too modern for what I want to do. As does this one:

But I LOVE, love, love this one! One day I would like to make one like this for myself. All rugged, natural, earthy, colors. And I like the look of the one color in the middle with the two rows of another color. It makes this pretty sort of flower-like motif. Hmmmm...someday.

I'll leave you with this last picture of a granny square headboard. What a GREAT idea for a little girls room. Actually I would put this in a guestroom, too. It's very warm and homey looking.

This headboard was made by Little Purl of the Orient.
The rest of the pictures I found on Flickr and/or Ravelry.

Grannies Galore

2008-11-24T22:19:00.000-06:00

Well, I was going to start this post with a history of the Granny Square, but lo and behold, I couldn't really find one anywhere on the internet. I'm thinking granny squares are one of those things that just ARE. Crochet is notorious for this sort of thing. No one can even really pinpoint when and where crochet first came into being. It just showed up one day.

I can only assume the granny square must have first been done by someone's granny. And really that granny was an ingenious little lady. There are so many variations that are possible that it blows the mind. What I find fascinating is how different they can look depending on size, color choice, yarn choice.

I'll admit, the picture above is somewhat campy. This magazine is from the early 80's when the granny square was just about to go into hibernation after it's heyday in the 60's and 70's. Now it's back again and I've caught the fever. I've been browsing around ravelry and flickr for days now, just ooohing and ahhhing over all the different variations I've seen.

I'm finding myself drawn to the blankets that look sort of vintagey and modern at the same time. I have a friend who is very in to everything 70's and I'd love to make her a granny square throw.
Here are some grannies I found on the side of the road at a place called Lovejoy. I actually asked my husband to climb out of the car and take a picture with his iphone. (What a guy!) The one I really like is the middle one with the white border. I find that you can do almost any kind of crazy color combos with a granny afghan and as long as you do the last row of every granny in the same color it ends up looking very together and posh. I have some plans for what I'm going to do for my friends throw.

But I don't have time now to explain all that so I'll have to wait until the next post. For now I'll just leave you with this..

Just a hint.

2008-11-23T22:43:00.001-06:00

vintagecrochet 003, originally uploaded by reneewestberry.

Don't have time right now to do a proper posting, but I wanted to post a little teaser of what's coming up.

I see Granny Squares in your future...

Twilight Day!

2008-11-21T08:59:00.001-06:00

Twilight Movie
Originally uploaded by Summer 1091

Yes, I'm excited even though I can't see the movie today, or even this week.

I'm waiting until Thanksgiving so that all the craziness will have (hopefully) died down.

So far everything I've seen shows that this movie will be spectacular. I'm especially looking forward to seeing the special effects. Also, I'm really pleased that the actors that were chosen to play these characters seem accurate and seem to coincide with the books descriptions.

I HATE it when they make a movie from a book and the characters are nothing like what the author described. I also hate it when they go for box office appeal instead of staying true to the integrity of the character. A perfect example of this is Tom Cruise as Lestat in Interview with a Vampire. What a freakin' disaster that was. That movie could have been SO much better had they chosen an actor that didn't make half the people that loved those books gag. They also could have made a lot more movies.

Well, thank God someone got smart and chose believable actors for Edward and Bella. I would not have liked to see someone like Hayden Panettiere with died brown hair playing Bella. Though I will admit that while I was reading Twilight, I kept picturing Alexis Bledel as Bella. Kristen Stewart was a better choice, though. I've only ever seen her in Panic Room, but I thought she did a really great job, especially considering having to play opposite Jodi Foster.

Well, I'll be sure and post my review after I've seen the movie.

Holding out for a Hero.

2008-11-20T09:00:00.000-06:00

So last night Footloose came on cable TV. Naturally, being a former psychotic fan of the movie back when it came out (and yes, I am old enough to have seen it in the theater, thank you) I settled down for some good ole 80's dance craze fashion fun. I cannot describe in mere words the level of worship that my friends and I harbored for this movie back when it came out. I had the record. I'm sure I drove my parents CRAZY playing it all day every day, trying to copy the dance moves, daydreaming about Wren McCormick, wishing I could be Ariel.

Now, Ariel, as far as my friends and I were concerned was the epitome of beauty and perfection. If I could have chosen one person to be, it would have been Ariel from Footloose. Not only was she beautiful, but she was sassy and sexy. She had those kick ass red boots. She was just IT.

Fast forward a few years and I'm sitting on my couch crocheting a baby blanket for a friend, watching Footloose and I can barely concentrate on the nostalgic coolness of Kevin Bacon smirking out, "Jump back!" when he hears that there's no dancing in Beaumont because every time Lori Singer comes on the screen all I can do is just GAWK at how freakin' SKINNY she is. I mean this girl is just straight up and down. There's not a curve to be seen, maybe a bump here and there, but she even makes Sarah Jessica Parker look like the average one, weight wise.

And I'm thinking, THIS was my epitome of everything perfect? This was my idea of sexy? Now don't get me wrong, despite the skinniness, the girl does have a certain something about her that is sexy. But I'd have to say that is despite her body rather than because of it. (Sorry, Lori.) But the thing that freaks me out is that I never thought of her as extremely, frighteningly, shockingly thin back when I was 11. I really thought she was PERFECT. I wanted to BE her. Seriously.

Now I'm wondering, HOW, in the name of anything holy, did Kevin Bacon not just giggle at her during the little dance scene at the honky tonk bar when they're dancing to Hurts So Good and she's just shakin' it for all it's worth and there is just nothing to shake. I mean her legs just go right up into her back. There's no ass at all! It just goes to show what a good actor Kevin Bacon is.

And what was almost even more shocking to me is that Lori Singer can't dance. I mean she sort of makes up for it with just pure enthusiasm, but really she cannot dance. It should have been Wren teaching Willard AND Ariel during Let's Hear it for the Boy.

So out of this revelation I have come to realize that what people say about influences in childhood is true. I'm pretty sure now that I can link at least half of my body image issues back to the first time I saw Footloose. And now I'm wondering how many other women could say the same thing. Because odd as it is, even now that I can see Lori Singer with adult eyes, there is still a small stubborn part of me that still sees her as "perfect." Even though I no longer wish for her body the way I used to, I can't really say in all honesty that I'm completely satisfied with mine.

Well, and look how much fun she's having. (Who needs boobs to have fun?)

By the way. Here's a link to a websight by another person who apparently believes that Lori Singer is IT. Apparently she's still fairly gorgeous. And still pretty freakin' skinny, too.

Oh Ripple how I love thee...

2008-11-19T23:19:00.001-06:00

rippleblanket 007
Originally uploaded by reneewestberry

I just love this picture! I'm showing it off because sometimes I can't believe I actually made something so beautiful. And then I even managed to take a beautiful picture of it.

This blanket is magical that way.

I'm sure you'll see it again.

Let's try this again...

2008-11-18T21:04:00.000-06:00

This is my second blog. The first one was a knitting blog and it was pretty boring. I thought I would never run out of things to say about knitting and yarn, then I got pregnant and the 9 months of morning sickness made me lose the will to live much less blog or knit, so I deleted the whole darn thing. So this time instead of making this about knitting or crocheting or any one thing, this is just going to be my blog where I talk about whatever I freakin' feel like talking about. No doubt, there will be lots of talk about knitting and yarn and crocheting, but there will probably also be rants about traffic jams and childrearing and how much I hate living in Houston and how much I miss Gilmore Girls and how excited I am about the Twilight movie coming out. (Yes, I am secretely a 15 year old girl still.) Because the thing is, I have LOTS to say about EVERYTHING. Ask anyone who knows me. I never shut up.

So I named my blog East of Eden because it's my favorite book. Really, I have a crapload of favorite books, but this title just speaks to me somehow and I love it. Also I live in Houston which is East of Austin which is my hometown and my general idea of Eden and so it's very fitting, don't you think?

Ok, well, I'm tired and I need to go to bed and drift off thinking of clever things to say in my new blog.

Here's a pretty picture to look at. (I like colorful things.)