Forgive me Blog Readers

for I have sinned. It's been 16 days since my last blog entry.

I've been busy. I haven't been knitting much because I have recently discovered how much of an uncaring and unkind asshole my boyfriend can be. Apartment hunting is time consuming, especially since I'm trying to bring both kitties with me. I love Ciatee, who is sitting on my lap as I type this, and my kids love Merlin. The boy calls him his orange kitty.

I also went back to work on the 11th, which is leaving me less and less time to knit. And, to top off a crappy two weeks, my neighbor's son shared his cold with me. So, not only am I adjusting to Lexapro, searching for an apartment, packing, and trying to get my crap in order, I am also doping myself up with cold meds so I can breathe all while trying to catch up on the classwork I slacked off on while I cried over lost love last week.

So, there you have it, my excuses for not blogging. Thursday I start therapy, so hopefully after that I will have no reason to type lame ass excuses for not knitting or blogging.

What's on my needles?

First up, the umbilical cord hat for my new nephew (due to arrive in November). It matches the diaper bag I already gave to my SIL.

Next up is my adapted version of the same diaper bag, in purple.

I have about two inches of the purple bag finished on the needles, but didn't take a picture of it. IRL, the purple in the bag and blue from the hat don't look that similar. This is evidence of my need for a new digicam. I'm adding it to the list. *sigh*

Another Cat Pic

The other cat in our house is Ciatee. I think I have one or two other pics of her on my blog. She isn't a photo-op cat like her brother, Merlin, but that's probably because she spends a good portion of her day hiding from the kids. I can totally understand why she hides. There are four of them, and if I could hide from them, sometimes I would.

Ciatee has chosen me to be her person. I think that somewhat bothers my boyfriend, who is used to being every cat's favorite person. Here's where Ciatee often sleeps when she isn't on my lap, like she is right now as I type this:

The bag I usually use for school books

I've caught her a couple of times sleeping INSIDE the bag or in/on my knitting bag. She also likes to nap on the back of my knitting chair. Crazy cat.


Crafty cack:
My wrists have been aching lately. Damned carpal tunnel! As a result, I haven't knit much the past few days. On a positive note, I haven't had to frog the purple bag again. :-P

Proof That Some Kids Will Sleep Anywhere and a WIP Update

I took this pic the day before my darling little boy took a nosedive off the couch (note, the lack of stitches or scar). :-(( Yes, he is sleeping on a computer chair. He fell asleep watching his favorite show, Spongebob, or as he calls it, "bum-bob".


What am I knitting now? I started another diaper bag. This time I am using grape, the color the pattern calls for, and I have tweaked the pattern to make it the size I want it, which is a little bit smaller. I have so far frogged it three times. Wugh. So, I will post a pic when I'm a little closer to having one whole side finished. So far I only have four rows done. I've frogged at least ten times that.

Time for a couple random cat pictures!

Sometimes I think Merlin thinks he's a person instead of a cat.

What are you looking at?

Just chillin' in the boy's chair!

We Have a Diaper Bag

Even though it's a little bit lopsided, it's cute.

Front

Back

I still haven't figured out how I'm going to line the Neapolitan tote. I have some fabric that is quite a bit lighter than the cocoa color in the tote, so I am not sure if it will work. I've been to several fabric stores in search of a different color fabric with which to line it, but no luck finding anything I like just yet.


Most importantly:
Yesterday really sucked, especially for my son. He took a nosedive off the back of the couch (which, admittedly, he shouldn't have been standing on to begin with) into the coffee table. What happened: my boyfriend's two boys were using the small decorative pillows on the couch to bop each other with, and my little guy wanted in on the action, so he climbed up on the back of the couch (maybe he thought he was going to jump on one of them), and before I could tell him to get down, he had already fallen and was on the floor bleeding. :-(( It happened so fast.

So, after I applied pressure long enough to slow the bleeding from the downpour it started out as, we hopped in the car and took him to Urgent Care where he got three stitches. Poor little guy. He has two black eyes today and his nose is all swollen.

I'm glad that school starts soon for the kids because my son is a walking accident waiting to happen. About a month ago, he had to have his head stapled from falling off of a chair. Just a few days ago, he climbed on the kitty litter bucket and fell on it and ripped his chin open. Sigh. What am I going to do with this boy?


Showing off his Dora bandaid. Note the squirt gun, toy pliers, and recorder stuffed into the waistband of his pants. Pardon the shirt, he just finished eating fries with ketchup.

Sundaes Neapolitan Coconuts

So, as I was knitting this bag, my boyfriend informed me that it looks like those Brach's candies that taste like coconut and are shaped like caramels. He is completely right. It looks just like these.

Before Felting

After Felting
(My son is being a kitty in case you're wondering why he is on all fours.)

I can't believe how much this bag shrunk down. Before felting, it was big enough for my son to use as a sleeping bag, and now it's the perfect size for a knitting tote. I need handles for it; I am probably going to buy the same nylon tape stuff I used for the tote bag I sewed. I am also going to line it and add some interfacing to help it stand up a little better; it's kind of floppy.

WIP
I started a diaper bag for my SIL. She's due to have a boy in November. My brother is so excited. I am making them this:

Sorry about the glare, it's a pic of a yarn label

One side is finished

As you can see, I've decided to use Berry Blue instead of Grape. The other color is Limelight. They are both Caron Simply Soft Brites. The pattern was on the label.

My Math Skills Need Some Work

A week or two ago I decided that I needed a new tote to carry my knitting cack around in. So, I designed one using the booga pattern as a starting point. I measured, counted out a striping pattern, and figured that three balls of yarn would do it. Luckily, I bought two balls of the chestnut brown, because I ran out of the first ball on my second brown stripe. (Last week's posting shows why that happened.) This is how far I got with the one ball of petal pink:

It's almost 24 inches long now

I need 6 more rows to complete the stripe. :-( So, I call a few yarn stores in my neighborhood, and none of them carry it. One of them doesn't carry Patons Classic Wool at all.

Okay, I'm not freaking out yet.

I decide to just go to Meijer to pick up a ball since that's the first store I found it at (it's the same color that I used in my sil's bag), and figure that while I am there I can also pick up a couple cases of Mt. Dew because it's my boyfriend's drink of choice and on sale there this week. I then get my kids ready for a trip to the yarn store and begin look for my keys.

Meanwhile, my kids are completely clothed (the boy hates wearing clothes) and waiting on my front porch -- actually behaving themselves!! I call my boyfriend to see if he, by some small miracle, left the keys somewhere in the house after he used them yesterday, only to find out that they are in his pocket (he is at work).

So here I am, stuck at home with no car keys, no petal pink Patons Classic Wool, two kids, and an almost finished tote bag. *sigh* On a positive note, my boyfriend is picking the yarn up for me on his way home from work.

Today's lesson: Always grab an extra ball of each color, just in case.

Future WIP:
Despite my prior failed attempt at making the kittyville hat from Stitch n Bitch, I am going to try again. My daughter really wants one, so hopefully it turns out this time. Cross your fingers!

I'm going to cry

I have no pictures of the Kittyville hat to post because I screwed up the ears on it. Then, I tried to cut one ear off and accidentally cut a hole in the top of the hat. In a fit of rage, I threw the entire hat in the trash. On a positive note, I learned how to seed stitch.

I am trying another felted bag without a pattern. This one is loosely based on the booga bag, with my own striping pattern. I'm still trying to decide what kind of handle it should have. It should be twice (or more) the size of a normal booga bag and will hopefully replace my current "knitting bag", a bag from Bath & Body Works my mom bought me for my birthday two years ago. It was filled with warm vanilla and sugar scented body wash, body butter, lotion, and body spray.

I am using Patons Classic Wool in the following colors: chestnut brown, petal pink, and winter white. As you can see, I haven't gotten to the winter white, yet.

And Yet Another Felted Bag

It's finished. Noro, despite its uneven texture, felts up quite nicely. I had to run it through the hot wash twice, and it's still bigger than the bags I've knit with Patons Classic. This one is mine, unlike most of the felted bags I've knit lately.

Natural light

With flash

My first attempt at an original pattern

I don't think it turned out that bad, either. It's for my SO's niece, whose 6th birthday party is Saturday. I'm going to fill it with girly stuff (hair ties, lip gloss, etc.) before we give it to her.

Before felting

After felting and blocking

This is what is on my needles currently.



A booga made with Noro Kureyon Color 166. Since I took this picture, I've finished the bag and have about a foot of the i-cord completed. I don't really care for the texture of this yarn. It's rough and the thickness varies throughout the skein. Also, the colors (even though all three skeins are from the same dye lot) are different. The green on the bottom of the bag never showed up in the other two skeins of yarn. But, I just had to have a bag made from Noro Kureyon. For my defense, it was on sale - 45% off! I think that from now on, I will stick with Patons Classic wool for felted bags.

I also started the kittyville hat from Stitch n Bitch. I will post a pic when it's finished; it's going very quickly.

I Love Small Projects!

I finished quite a few of them this week. First up is the umbilical cord hat from SnB. I also knit two more cell phone cozies. My neighbor now owns the lavender and yellow one.

And now for a random cat picture. Merlin thinks he belongs on the table.

A Rant, My First Trip to My LYS, and an FO

The Joanne’s by my house is the worst place to shop for sewing supplies. The last time I went there, I tried to get help with finding material for a pattern. (I am a novice when it comes to my sewing machine, and I need more help than the average person.) I wandered around aimlessly for a little while, and then found an employee and asked her for assistance. She was less than helpful; in fact, she basically stared at me, blinked a couple of times, then said, “I don’t know; I don’t sew.” Well, then, why the hell are you working in a FABRIC STORE??? From now on, I will drive 20 minutes to Field’s for any fabric/sewing crap that I need. Most of the people who work there wear the clothes they’ve sewn, so I know they aren't fabric-impaired.

AND:

Until yesterday, I had never actually been inside a yarn store. I had no idea what I was missing. I thought that the yarn selection at my local Meijer was impressive. Then I found the Knitting Shack. While it’s a somewhat small store, it is packed full of yarn, needles, and other knitting supplies. And, most importantly, the people working there (I assume they owned it) are very friendly and incredibly helpful.

Finally:
I finished the felted bag I was making for my mom.

Before felting

After felting with camera flash on

In natural light/no flash

My Weekend Project

I actually started it last night. I was finished with it around 6:30pm. I used variegated Sugar and Cream (I don't remember the colorway and accidentally threw out the label).

A custom fit cozy for my cell phone. I sort of used the pattern from SnB.

Detail of the button

The Baby Blanket is Finished!

I was getting worried because the baby it's for is due August 4th. I think I started it at the end of April. Granted, I knit several felted bags and a dishcloth while working on it. I will never again knit a sport weight yarn on size 7 circs.

Yes, that's my knitting chair under it.

My kids never miss a chance to pose for a picture. :-)

The Tote is Finished

Finally. I finished it this morning. Now, I am not sure what to do with it. It's supposed to be a knitting tote, but it's way too big. I could probably fit my entire yarn stash in this bag. Maybe I will use it as a bookbag when I go back to class in September.

Roomy enough for one cat to play in.

Roomy enough for two cats to hang out in.

A Boy and His Cats

This has nothing to do with crafts, but I couldn't resist posting this pic of my adorable boy hanging out with his kittens. Aren't they cute?

My First Completed Sewing Project

A knitting needle case! The funny part is, I started this yesterday around 5pm. I was finished with it by 10:45. My first sewing project, a huge yarn tote that I started sewing a couple weeks ago, is still sitting unfinished on a shelf in the kitchen. Eventually I will break down and slipstitch the liner and press it.

My needles are really liking their new home; don't they look happy?

And, the cloth I started more than 6 months ago. I finished it and gave it to my darling son, who wanted me to knit him a blanket. He settled for his own washcloth, for now.

WIPs for July

I have 3 WIPs on the needle. I refuse to post another pic of the baby blanket until it's finished. That is, if I ever do finish it. I have 24 inches completed; it doesn't seem like I've made much progress since my last post mentioning it (only 7 inches *sigh*).




Here is the booga I just started for my mom out of the peacock yarn I bought for half price. I am finishing up the purple yarn from my first two booga bags (pre-blog). Hopefully I don't run out of the purple before I run out of bag.




I’m not sure why I started a scarf in July, but the yarn is pretty when it’s all knit up. This colorway is also called peacock.

Yay! Finally a Couple of FOs!

This is the booga, before felting, that I made for my nine year old daughter. She saved her chore money to pay for the yarn. Hopefully that is enough incentive for her to take care of it and not lose it. :-)

After being felted

Another view of it after felting. It's kind of dark because the room was too bright for my flash to work.

Cricket's Technicolor Techno-Cozy from Stitch 'n Bitch. It only took a couple hours to knit up, but it took what seemed like forever to weave in the ends.

My Yarn Stash

I have no yarn. Or rather, I have no yarn that I want to start a new project with.


First up is my collection of novelty yarns. Bernat Boa was on sale a few weeks ago for $1.60 with an additional 20% off at the register. So, I ended up paying less than $10 for 8! One of these days, I will make some scarves out of them. Right now, it’s too warm out for me to even think about knitting scarves.


This pic shows what happens when Sugar 'n Cream goes on sale for $1 a ball at my local super center. In addition to the 11 full balls featured in the picture (yes, three of them are knockoffs that I bought at Hell-Mart), I somehow ended up with 15 partial balls. One would think that I love making dishcloths.



This is a pic of some yarn my mom bought me for my birthday. Or maybe it was for Valentine’s Day. Lol. I’m not really sure, because ever since I started knitting, she’s been giving me yarn, even if it’s not a holiday. That’s how I ended up with so much Lion Fun Fur.