Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Top of the hump

Well it's a slow week around here, not sure why really just time feels quite slow.  And it's been getting hot, so my yarn usage has changed a bit.  I am making a small granny square pincushion with some mini hanks of yarn I got from a swap, I don't know what yarn it is but it's quite thin.  Really you would think after all these years I would know my yarn weights better!  I am going to say it's a super fine/fingering weight and I am using a C hook and making tiny granny squares!
Here's one and a second started
See how little they are and my hand feels stupidly huge holding such a small hook. Should have the fourth square done tonight and then the four of them whipped together.  Speaking of tiny hooks, the pretty rose I did on Sunday, well I decided it I would try it using embroidery thread.  Steel hook and some pink thread came up with this pretty little thing!

too bad I can't keep it here!

Just some tiny things I am working on while the weather is super hot.  I do need to get the strap done for Katlyn's bag and of course get started on the dress for Brooke.  I am going to go to JoAnn's on Friday a pickup the yarn for it and hope, hope, hope I can do it!  Here's the picture in the magazine which of course is from 2008 and the yarn that is called for has been discontinued, but I think I can easily find a substitute for it, so long as I remember my yarn weights!  :)

Brooke would pose exactly like this too!
Yay, update in the middle of the week!  Top of the hump, only downhill from here right?

Listening to: Somebody Told Me by The Killers

Monday, May 21, 2012

oopsy.....only a bit behind!

I love when a post gets so far away from me :) I posted the first 3 pictures on Friday morning intending to get a post up before the weekend or at least Saturday morning while I was sipping coffee at my leisure....ummm obviously didn't happen since here it is Monday morning and I am back at work! Oh well, what can I say. So onward with this post!

Let's back up a bit, Daughter of mine flew out on Thursday night to go up to her Dad's for a month. Let me tell you, that is a tough thing. I have been a single Mom since 2001 and my boys have all left home so it's been Katlyn and I for the last few years. We generally just hangout at home with each of us doing our own thing in separate rooms for the most part and our condo is a quiet place, but I can always hear her giggling at whatever she is watching or reading, kind of a background noise really, but it's always there. With her gone, the quiet is crazy quiet!  Fortunately I have Kid who will bark at outside noises and whine when Prue is sitting up on the table out of his reach.  Anyway we (the dogs and I) are not used to her being gone!  Not to mention that I usually bring Max to work with me and Kid stays home during the day with her and now they have to adjust to staying home by themselves for the next month. I did go and buy them each a new Kong toy to fill with treats and help with the aloneness.  Neither has separation anxiety that I can tell though and they haven't been too bad, but again it's only been 1 day (Friday) that they were home all day! Kid is notorious for getting into my yarn whenever we leave the house and so I have had to puppy proof all yarn spots, but he is awesomely puppy pad trained and I know there are none of "those" surprises waiting when I get home!  I am also making my outside time count, so if I need to go to the store for something I try to do it on the way home, so I am not coming and going.  Crap, this is my future!  When she moves out this is what I will be doing forever.........I need friends, too bad I am socially inept and hate people!

Ok so there it is, a long, long story about life at this moment in time, now on with the show!  Friday progressed nicely on Katlyn's bag and got the body of it all done and then remembered that she asked for a bit of siding, so did some measuring and hoping that I can get is worked up properly, becasue this yarn does not ripout easily! 
Friday progress
I planned on running into JoAnn's on my way home from the airport (saving gas AND the dogs anxiety) if I was done early enough, wasn't sure if security would let me wait at the gate with her until boarding (they did, yay!) I just went into pick up another skein for her bag, but figured so long as I was there I would wander a tiny minute in the yarn section.  Now I have stopped buying yarn unless I have an immediate need for it (haha, an actually project I am working on, because I ALWAYS have a need!!) but I was walking along the back wall just looking and found this:
Oh the colors are gorgeous!
Red Heart Super Saver in Peruvian Print

Yes it's SS and a bit stiff, but the colors in this just make me do a crazy happy dance!  No really, I have some mad love for these yarn and want to go buy all on the shelf and hoard the crap out of it!  I have done nothing with it yet other then rescue it from Kid who found it in my bag and ripped the label off.....puppies, you know I love them!  I am thinking squares though and I have a turquoise that matches to edge them in, I think I will work one up tonight and see how it comes out.  It will make a great throw in my living room since the colors work perfectly in there!
Saturday night I could be found here at the table working on the strap to Katlyn's bag with a Mike's Hard Lemonade....way too sweet I never actually finished it, switched to water to cut the sugar!
Tasty but sugar overload!
Sunday spent cleaning as normal, vacuum, laundry and the balcony.  Swept the balcony of leaves from the surrounding trees, which seriously I filled the kitchen trashcan with them, craziness!  I have to clean them up before vacuuming because I have a certain puppy who thinks leaves are great fun to play with and brings then in the house!
Certain puppy!  notice the leaves already falling again!
I was reading Lucy's blog and saw her pretty rose and stopped working on the strap and grabbed some yarn and whipped one up.  Super easy and super cute too!
Rose I made.
Sitting outside with yarn and hook, I love it!
Strap in progress
And there it is, a very wordy post with lots of pictures!  I am hoping that my week will be filled with lots of projects going and finished, I want to get started on a dress for Brooke as a birthday present, so that's next on the hook.  I left the pattern at home but will get a picture after work to show off!

Listening to:  Sexyback by Justin Timberlake

Monday, May 14, 2012

Monday is back!

Here we are with a tiny update of sorts!  I finished the striped scarf completely and the blocking made a great deal of difference.  I just need to get Katlyn to put it on so I can get a picture, it's been a bit warm around here lately and wearing a scarf is not on the top of her list!
Had a nice weekend, went to my Sister's for a Mother's Day BBQ on Saturday evening and did a bit of crocheting there.  She made a bag and asked me to whip up a handle for it.  Katlyn liked the bag and asked if I could make one for her.....by Thursday!  She's leaving for a few weeks to go up North and visit her Dad.  That means 3 1/2 weeks all by myself and then a 400 mile road trip alone with 2 dogs!  Sounds like it is going to be interesting!  I started working on the bag using RH Boutique Treasure in Abstract and man oh man I love this yarn.  It's an acrylic/wool blend and the colors just flow so wonderfully and are striping perfectly too.   So Mother's Day for me was spent in part crocheting :)
Hooking on the patio (just ignore the leaf mess)
Katlyn made us brunch and we just relaxed around the house, I was either reading A Game of Thrones (great book, haven't had a book take hold of me in a long time!) or crocheting while doing the regular chores of laundry and trash taking out!  We went up to JoAnn's to look for some fabric to line her new purse and a cute button for the closure and found both and she also got some barrette bases for some things she's making to wear.

Deathly Hollows Katlyn made for me :)
 Mother's Day presents from my Daughter
My new head!
So that's my weekend wrap up, I do need more pictures and I think more projects are on the horizon since the girl will be gone for so long!

Listening to: If Love Is A Crime (I Wanna Be Convicted) by Keel

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Oh dear, where have I been?

Yeah it would be great to say I've been off on some exotic vacation but no that is sadly not the case.  Actually I have been doing nothing, well other then work and life.  I did finish the striped scarf but in all honesty that is really it.
 Scarf blocking, will be all done today, had to do it in sections because there is a puppy that runs wild in my house and pinning a wet scarf to my bed for a few hours was not really an option!
tis a sad picture!
 I made a little bow, really just playing around because I wanted to make a ring.  I like it, now I just need to turn it into a ring.  Tricky part that is though.  I think I will make some pairs and attach them to clips for hair accessories.
Cupcake was made for my Sister's birthday.  I just kinda whipped it up.  Nothing special, just thought a cute little something would be fun.

So there it is, my whole lot of nothingness of late...pretty sad if you think about it but I cannot seem to find my motivation for anything at all.

Listening to: Long Time by Boston