Wow. Just wow. I kept meaning to blog, I did. Every day was "well, I will have time tomorrow." And I didn't. Or I forgot.

So I am here. I am stressed. Every time I go to the doctor about my wrists, I get a new medication. This is all on top of new birth control and more work at work. Not complaining... just very very worn out; physically and mentally. Even a week off from work didn't help all THAT much.

You would think that knitting would relieve stress. You'd think. I have been working on the garter stitch blanket... That doesn't help stress. I cast on for three pairs of socks... and frogged it all. I am thinking maybe I'll try some Sidewinders or a second attempt on the Jaywalkers. Or maybe I will practice more with sock yarn and knit some Endpaper Mitts or those pirate mittens from www.helloyarn.com. :) (I'm so lazy right now. I'll fix the hyperlinks later... hehe) Maybe both? Who knows.

I have knit some smaller things... I'll post pics after I take them. (Again, I am a lazy, lazy girl)

- Felted Ant
- Felted Bee
- Felted Lobster
- 8 Billion Catnip Mice (I altered the pattern from before) Seems like everyone with a cat wants some mice. The boyfriend's cat sleeps with his every night. It's cute, really.
- An angry banana.
- Two relatively happy limes. (One WAS angry, but I changed his disposition)
- Restarting the 1up mushroom beanie. I reworked that pattern also, it's no longer the Kittyville hat from SNB. :D
- Starting the design for a pair of kind of lacy fingerless mitts made with my hand dyed yarn
- Starting the basic pattern for what will become my transformers/nintendo/versatile pattern for a fingerless mitt, scarf, and hat set. This is most exciting. I absolutely adore Fair Isle.
- No more progress on the Boyfriend Blanket yet. Intarsia can kiss my buttsnips. Jerk. Although I did figure out a much me-friendlier way of doing it. (I am anal about yarn twisting and tangling, and plastic bag noises annoy me.)
- Attempting to design a pair of gloves similar to Knitty's Knucks, only Thing sized and made with worsted weight because he wants me to use the blue/purple skein he dyed. Okay, my boyfriend's hands are not that huge. I lied. They might as well be though. Any suggestions? ^_^
-Working on the baby blanket(the baby is born! Hailee is her name). Almost done, then a hat and booties... Maybe not booties. What is a good baby thing to make?

That's it. So you see I have been busy. And I have also been playing WoW tcg, seeing Transformers and seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Go see them. Now.

Not much else to report, I think I'll go read some Half-Blood Prince and reaquiant myself before Deathly Hallows shows up on my doorstep. Hopefully, it won't be two months again. ;)

Baby Junk and Felted Things.

I've been up to nothing lately, but very busy. Family from Florida came last week, so I spent a long time cleaning and I'm still not done... Can someone tell me how I have so much yarn? Seriously. I'm going to take pics for you, but I'm lazy and i have yet to organize it all. So far I have two big baskets full of yarn, another filled with my spinning supplies and yarn, and a HUGE bag holding the motherload of my yarn. Crazy. I'm not doing it tonight though. Maybe Tuesday you'll get to drool over my mass quantities of yarn.

I found out my cousin is having a baby. It's a girl. She isn't due until late July or early August, so I have some time. I started knitting a blankie... It's pink and pale pink acrylic with a shiny strand inside. Plain old boring garter stitch. Well, not so boring. I'm knitting it normal and backwards so I never have to turn it. Turning huge pieces on circular needles annoys me immensely. I use mostly bamboo needles because I love the feel and nothing slides unless I want it to. I have some metal and some plastic needles, but I prefer bamboo. So here I am using a US 10.5 29" circular needle. This blanket will be huge. :) I never really measure baby blankets when I make them... I do a good job of guesstimating and they're always big enough to either wrap the baby or cover the carseat. Since she's due in August-ish, I'm making the blankie winter/autumn thick. It's 80 stitches across, and I'll probably make it 120-140 rows... or until I get sick of knitting. :)

On to the fun knitting! I have been wanting to felt for a while now. I have no knowledge of how to work a washing machine. (Laugh it up. 22 year old chick can't do laundry. Ha ha ha.) I had to start with something small. What is small that you can felt? Cat toys. The little mice from SNB Nation to be exact. I used this yarn in Carrot, but I don't see it on there anymore.... hmmm. No bother, I had four skeins. I also have two skeins each of the Heather Amber, Avacado and Pumpkin. Cheap wool. :) I love Knit Picks. Anyways... I used that Carrot color which is a nice deep orange. I followed the pattern exactly, only I used size US 9 needles instead of US 4. I posted on craftster, I read many a website. I was ready. After I attached the little ears and sewed up his butt with the best mattress seam ever (there are pics below of my most perfectest seam ever done by me and my crapping stitching), I filled my sink with the hottest water I could stand (which, since my hands are usually numb, was surprisingly hot). I was too lazy to go downstairs and get laundry detergent, so I just squirted some Dial in the water and swished it around a little. It's a cat toy, not a me toy. I rubbed it between my fingers, against itself, turned it inside out... and it was felting. Slowly but surely it was felting. I couldn't wait, not only am I lazy but I have no patience. I made sure it was good and wet then I held the blob between my palms and rubbed. Soak, rub, soak, rub. All in all it took about 5 minutes to hand felt Mr. Mouse. I dried him on a towel as best I could and since his middle was fairly dry, I decided to stuff him before I finished stitching him up. he's layered. :) His butt is catnip, his tummy is a combo of polyfil and catnip, and his nose is catnip. I finished stitching him up with the long tail I left (I felted it a little so it would blend better, and it looks pretty good I think, especially for my first time). He has no eyes and no mouth... or a normal tail. On purpose. I was inspired by this. Aren't they cute? Mine doesn't look like a mouse-pig though. :) I didn't want to make an i-cord tail, I just stitched up to the tip of Mr. Mouse's nose and shoved the needle through the body and out the butt. Because of the felting, I don't think it's going anywhere, and if it does, it's just a kitty toy. :) I do like the green of the mouse-pigs. I think I'll make some of these to sell in September for the garage sales around my house. I'll have to figure out what to charge. What do people pay for felted catnip mice? WARNING: DO NOT EVEN CARRY THESE AROUND WHEN THERE ARE CATS WITHIN 500 FEET. This particular mouse is for Jiro, the boyfriend's cat. I have three minions of my own... and all of them were mewing at me and trying to climb my legs. These mice are potent. ;) And now for the moment you've all been waiting for....

Pre-felting.


Do you see that seam? That's right. No, you don't. :)


Isn't he cute? Even with no eyes. :)


Post-Felting!


This is him all finished, but before I shaped his nose. You can still kind of see the seam.


Now that I'm back, I can catch up on e-mail and blogs! Yay!


PS After seeing how much yarn I have gathered and collected, I have decided to go on a mini yarn diet. Just until I get rid of some of it. Is this cheating? :)

Yarrrrrrrr!

I finished my "We Call Them Pirates" hat! It's great... for the most part. I effed up a little. The rows on the brim don't match up 100%. Just the brim. How does that happen? WHY does that happen!? Obviously I did something wrong, but at the same time, I have no idea what I did. Sigh. Here is the hat.




See? Everything else is FINE. I just don't get it. It's made out of Lion's Brand Baby Soft in Black and White. I wanted to use acrylic for my first major Fair-Isle project in case I had to frog a lot. I only had to frog two rows because of one stitch. Oh well. I like it. My dad likes it (which is good because it's his). I didn't do the provisional cast on for the liner. I'm lazy and scared. :) I have the yarn that the pattern calls for on the way. But instead of black and white, it's red and dark grey. I can't wait to try the yarn, coated with teflon? I should make gloves out of that...

~* Swap! *~

So my first personal swap is officially completed. :) I swapped with Jaye (from craftster). It was awesome cuz she's from Australia. :D

Here is what I sent:



Lots and lots and lots of Hershey's dark chocolate... Bars, pieces, sticks, and M&M's... Lots of buttons. My favorite are the blue ones on the bottom right. They're dark blue with light blue opalish snowflakes on them... but you can't see the snowflakes from the pics that i took. :( Last but not least... My kureyon mitts. :) (don't worry, I bought more Noro and I have allllll summer to knit more.) :D

Here is what I got:



The cutest pair of earrings (I thought I had good pics of everything... pffft. Teaches me to think.). A whoppee cushion that will be making mischief. A chocolate bunny puzzle. :) Look at the pretty pretty wool! I cannot WAIT to spin it!!!!!! It's so soft! I love the purple and the blue. I'm going to dye the white (though I have no idea what color yet), but I think I may leave the grey... I kinda like it natural. I can't wait to open the Timtams... though I'm afraid to... My dad has already started eyeing them up. He was in the Navy and I guess hasn't had them for a very long time... I suppose I can share. :) And last but not least, an amazing felted necklace. :) It's got the prettiest colors and it's just so cute!

All in all a VERY successful first swap and I can't wait to participate in more. :)

Grrrrr....

*grumbles*

So... Sometimes we are smart... and sometimes we are not. I put some of my pictures into folders in www.photobucket.com This is why I don't organize things... Here are the pics that I *accidentally* deleted the links for in the previous post... Oooooooooooops.

Blue and Purple Hand Dyed...



Red and Pink Hand Dyed....



Handspun goodness...


Blah. I may now be a brunette... but I was born a blonde.

I'm A Slacker...

In the past two weeks I have done... pretty much nothing. Went to a wedding... played cards... knit a little. I took a break from knitting after I decided to frog my 1up beanie. It was a sad day. Now it's sitting there in three pretty piles waiting for me to cast on again. Alas, beanie, it's for the best. After asking for help on craftster, I figured out that I need to weave my little floaters in. It'll be that much better in the long run, I promise. So, to practice my Fair Isle, I am making the We Call Them Pirates hat from www.helloyarn.com. It's great so far, time consuming, but great. I'm using acrylic yarn. Baby Soft. :) This is my first time doing major Fair Isle and using needles smaller than US 5. I'm nervous... lol. I'm not doing the provisional cast on because I didn't have size 1 any kind of needles... and I really didn't feel like buying any. I have size 2 circs... but no. I'm a lazy slacker.

I dyed some more yarn. :) The boyfriend dyed the purple/blue and I dyed the red/pink. He said mine looked like love... I was going more for angry at the time, but now it reminds me of love. Heh. Here are some pics! Same as before... KnitPicks 100% Superwash Wool (and I still have 4 skeins left!) Kool-Aid dyed... The blue/purple is Berry Blue and Grape. The red/pink is Strawberry and Pink Lemonade. It's easier for me to wind them into these crappy balls from the dyed skein and THEN into hanks or center pulled balls... for some reason for me it gets tangled.... every time there are tangles. Oh well, it's probably me. :)

Sorry this one is so blurry, I didn't realize it until I uploaded it... Meh. All you need is the colors. :)



This one is actually not this red throughout, the pic just has a lot of red. :)



I got my spindle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought a spindle from etsy and it came with some pretty pretty roving/batt (what's it called?). I spun it all by myself. ALL BY MYSELF. :) I'm excited. I can't tell anyone around me... they don't care as much. It sucks having no knitters by you. :( Here's a pic of the spindle and yarn... Let me know if it sucks. I need all the help I can get. Did I spin it too tight?



The boyfriend's dad made me some spindles... I can't wait to try those out also. I bought some carded wool in pretty autumn colors that I'm going to spin.... Wish me luck. :)


PS: I expanded my stash some more... I'll post pics later... I need to organize my stash, it's getting out of control. hehehehe

'Twas A Happy Wednesday!

I got home from work... and I had two packages waiting for me. Delicious, wonderful yarn. I hope you weren't thinking it was clothing or something worthwhile. (OldNavy will be here by the end of the week, so ha!) I was so completely surprised that they arrived so quickly. I bought them Monday. *dances*
The first one was from luxe (www.luxe.etsy.com). Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I fell in love with the yarn on her site, but it's amazing in person. I am definately without a doubt buying again. I have no idea what I'm making... but the yarn is... wow. How do you leave feedback on etsy? Is there something I am missing? Here is a picture of the package she sent me! Two pretty postcards, candy (mmm candy), a cute little luxe pin (I think it's mostly covered by a flower, sorry!), and a purple handmade flower pin. It's great. I can wear it to work on my jacket. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.



The second was from yarnzilla (www.yarnzilla.com) . Mmmmm noro. Six skeins of Kureyon and one skein of Silk Garden. All of the Kureyons have some sort of orange in them. :) Two skeins each of #88, #128, and #131 (in no order because I'm lazy). The Silk Garden (the front pinkish skein) is #251. Normally I'm not a big pink person... but I really liked this. Plus, I wanted to try Silk Garden, but I didn't want too bright of a color scheme. I'll probably make a hat. I like yarnzilla. That's where I purchase all of my Noro. Incredible customer service and lightning fast shipping. Here's a picture of those goodies.



Now I have 3½ skeins of #88. I literally had to change the ordered quantity a few times and force myself to try other colorways. Hehehe. I'm going to save it. What if I want to make something and every place is sold out!? :D

I have to organize my yarn tonight. I have three HUGE ziplock bags, and some other bags. Oh man... This is going to be an adventure. Cross your fingers... I may have to call off work tomorrow. :D

On an exciting note... I am doing my first personal swap. :) She already knows she's getting the Noro mitts. I'm really really really really really really really excited. But I don't want to blow anything.... *zips lips*