You ate WHAT with a saw???

Imagined conversation with the knitting gods/goddesses:

Me: "Oh, why have you chosen to smite me??"

Them: "You did this yourself. You know the reason for your smotement (is that a word? *cracks up*)"

Me: "I can work perfectly well from a chart. I don't need no stinking written out directions. It doesn't matter that the pattern is in Finnish!"

Them: "*knowing silence*"

Me: "*sniffles a little and starts ripping back to her lifeline on the shawl two charts ago*"

Pity me, for I have been smited. Smoten... You know what? Forget it. Suffice it to say my shawl and I aren't on speaking terms at the moment.

I do have good news though....



I finished the str fingerless gloves. Well, I guess they're semi fingerless. lol I even finished a pair of fingerless gloves for DH. A pattern may be forthcoming for these. Not sure yet.




And now I'm looking for something new to start with my newly reclaimed stash of sock yarn. Today was "Sock Yarn Liberation Day" here at the northern hq of The Yarn Mafia. (blurry pic oh so sorry)




Two ripped socks, three balls stash dived, and two balls untangled. The pink and cream (leftover from my so pretty loksins) will be turned into another pair of handwarmers, absolutely no fingers this time. The rest? Haven't the faintest. Here, have a bonus picture.




That's the frost on the bedroom window. Crazy huh? I'll have pics of the loksins once DH has a sunny day off from work.

Angie!!!!!! I need a blog title!!!!!

Ok guys, just a quick post to give a little info about my little contest. It's going to be quick, it ends on Friday, February 1st at midnight (EST) and all you have to do is leave a comment letting me know what kind of project it'll be. The winner gets a little prize from me. :)

Here's a hint for everyone: It's NOT something I have OTN (i.e. Fingerless gloves as I have several of those going), and after some searching, I see that I DID in fact blog about the yarn I'm going to be using at one point. It's also something that I've made before and really liked. What do you think?

You know what I think? I think this is.........

Dead pigs don't have... no, you know what? I can't do it...

That's right, I'm leaving you to guess what dead pigs don't have. Bet you'll never get it. Ever. :)

Okay, so today's post is going to be a day in the life of Krystal! Yay! Sound fun? Okay, let's boogie.

- 10:30 -11:00 a.m. - Climb out of bed. (you all probably think I'm lazy but wait till you see what time I go to bed...) Angie Calls at 11.

-11:00 a.m.-? (usually about 1 or so) - Talk to Angie on the phone while knitting whatever is the most complex thing I'm working on. Right now it's my Endpaper Mitts.*

1 or 2:00 until 6:30 p.m. - Sit at the computer and do things like check my blogs, play on ravelry, or blog, and knit if I'm not doing any of those things while I chat online. Whatever I'm knitting has to put something I can put down without worrying about dropping a stitch (which usually means a hat). Right now it's my pinwheel baby blanket, * which is almost done. I have 9 rows and then the edging to do.

6:30 p.m. to 8 or 8:30 p.m. - Sit in the living room with Dave, watching T.V. and hanging out. Now, here is where it varies. If Emmy is over, then I work on something easy peasy...

...Like the ribbed arm warmers I'm making for Dave. (The pattern is my own, just a simple 2x2 ribbing.) If Emmy's not here, than I will either work on same complex project from this morning (read: Endpaper Mitts.), I'll start a new project, or I'll work on my fingerless monkeys (this pattern is also my own, but I'll be writing it up when I'm done.)

If Emmy is over, I pretty much exclusively sit out and work on my project while watching movies, playing mario, or going to sonic (No, I don't knit while going to sonic. Though I should...) If she's not, then...

8:30 or so until 1:30 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. - I come back to the computer and do some more playing around, this time working with html (hopefully soon that will mean doing homework) or writing, and sometimes doing a little knitting. Now you know why I don't get much knitting done...

2:00 a.m until I fall asleep - I lay in bed (on the couch... we need a new bed and I usually at least lay on the couch for a while if I don't sleep on it) and read whatever book I'm into until I'm completely exhausted (because I don't sleep well unless I wait until this point to go to sleep.)

No, I don't have a life, why do you ask? :)

Oooh in non-knitting or blogging news, look at what was between our apartment and the freeway on Saturday!

Deer! Look closely. There were six of them (I think there's only 5 in the picture). They were moving through the woods in broad daylight, which makes me think maybe they were out of food. All does and babies. One big doe, three little ones, and two adolescents. They were so pretty!

If anyone can correctly guess what NEW project I'll be casting on for next (that doesn't count the next monkey, which will be otn as soon as I finish something...) will win a SMALL prize (read: relatively cheap as I have no money...) to be delivered some time in February. Any guesses?

P.S. Every * you see indicates that I linked to the pattern in the sidebar, in case you wanted to see it. :)

It's MY day to wear the Captain States The Obvious badge!

Hee hee... that title cracks me up... Ahem..

Anyway..

I had planned on posting pictures of all of my recent FO's today, but the weather is not cooperating. It's -24 C (which is -11.2 F) and snowing. There is no sunlight at all, even if my window wasn't frozen over. So, no pictures. Sorry

My socks have been washed and worn and washed again. lol I love my socks. They're a smidge too big, but a trip through the washer and dryer solved that problem. Don't worry, Kroy is superwash! They did shrink just enough that the heel isn't too huge now. Only a little. I think if I were to make these socks again (which I will, don't doubt it for a minute) I would take out some stitches and make the heel flap shorter. Or do a different heel since I'm not a fan of a flap/gusset heel. I like short row heels.

I've started the next to last chart on my shawl and as soon as I'm done with this I'm going to find something good to watch on tv and try to finish this chart today. I'm afraid it'll be the great yarn race on this one, but I guess I asked for it by wanting to use up every last bit of this yarn. I go back and forth between thinking I'll have enough and knowing I won't. We'll see.

And my birthday STR finally became something after waiting since July for me to find the right project, being frogged over and over... Fingerless gloves. I know. Krystal is freaking contagious. lol Well, to be more precise it's a fingerless glove. The other one is on the needles right now. I just cast on enough stitches to fit around my hand and be divisible by four then knitted k1 p1 rib (twisting the knits cause I love the way that looks) for about an inch, worked stockinette stitch until it was time to start thinking thumbs, did a thumb gusset, knitted more until it was time to start thinking fingers, divided the stitches up into four fingers, then did the fingers until they were long enough and finished off with more k1 p1 rib. I'm actually not the biggest fan of the base yarn for socks that rock lightweight but the colors... oh man the colors... like this one and this one and this one and all of these...

So anyway, that's what I've been up to. According to DH the weather is supposed to be like this all week, so that'll probably be the next time I have pictures to show but I'll still post anyway. Now I need to go post at my other blog to let everyone know that, in fact, I am NOT dead. lol Later!

You burnt my butt. Now I'm mad

Today's post is going to focus on phases. Does anyone else find they go through various phases in their crafty lives? For example... for the last year, my thing has, obviously, been knitting. Now, in the course of the past year, I've been pretty much exclusively knitting. Before that, it was cross-stitching. Since I've started knitting, cross-stitching has completely gone out the window. I thought the next thing for me would be crochet, but that doesn't come to me as naturally as knitting. Throughout the knitting phase, however, I've found myself doing other things for days or weeks at a time. Reading, exclusively, and never knitting. Writing with every spare second, as though if I don't write it something horrible will happen. My latest thing is html. Although I'm sensing a problem with the html thing. I love it, and it's so incredible when I do html and it works... but I don't think I'm creative enough for it. That's ok though, I'm going to keep going. I'm thinking about designing a yarn mafia page, not because we need a new one... on the contrary, I love this one. Just as practice. Would you guys be interested in seeing it IF I ever get it up?

In the meantime, the little tiny bit of knitting I've done in the past two days was devoted to making Dave a pair of black ribbed fingerless gloves. He requested them upon seeing how I never take mine off. In the past two days, I've done a total of about an inch of ribbing. Which is getting ripped because it's too big. *sigh* Oh well. Back to the html thing. :) Wish I had better knitting news to talk about, but don't worry. I will most definitely be coming back to it. I just need to quit spending so much time at the computer. :) Hey, stick around... I hear Angie's going to blog about her knitterly goodness tomorrow. ;)

That smells vaguely like vanilla... and wet sheep

So, not much to blog about today. Just cleaning and all that happy crappy, as they say. Who says that? Hmm... maybe my sister... lol anyway I decided to go ahead and do my next abc-along entry, so here goes.

B is for......

Betta fish! This is my betta, his name is Jack. Actually, that's not right. His name is Captain Jack Sparrow. That's not a good picture but it's really hard to get an accurate picture of him without the use of like, an underwater camera or something... Here are some interesting facts about bettas.

• The ones sold in the US are actually called The Siamese fighting fish.


• The betta originally made it's home in rice paddies, slow-moving streams, drainage ditches, and large puddles, as well as other places, because of their ability to breath atmospheric air. Those places typically do not have as much oxygen in the water, but the bettas don't actually need it. The can come to the surface for air.


• Males create "bubble nests" at the surface, and takes care of the eggs and the newborn babies. They will build bubble nests at the surface even in the absence of a female if their water conditions are suitable for breeding.


• In the wild, bettas only show their coloring when they're agitated. They're colored in captivity because breeders have managed to capture that color. Females are typically duller in color if they have color at all, and their fins are a lot less showy than the males' color.

My betta is very friendly, but I've had some in the past that were extremely aggressive. He is in there right now, happily building his bubble nest. Here's a picture of one that I found on the internet, he's so beautiful... but kinda creepy. I'm not sure why I feel that way, but there ya go.

Anyone else finding him creepy? It's something about his fins... they look almost like spikes. Weird.

Have a great weekend!!

Today's post is brought to you by the letter "Y"

Today was the longest day in the history of the world. It had to be. I spent NINE hours in the hospital waiting room. My mom had rotator cuff surgery today, and we were there for AGES. Everything went really well though, and the people were so nice. She's at home resting now. She's pretty bummed about having to wear her arm in a sling, because things around her neck bother her. But she'll be fine. :)

I don't have much knitting progress for you. Even with all the waiting time. I did a few rows on the baby blanket, which, at 350 plus stitches per row, is no small thing, but that's ALL THE KNITTING I DID. Isn't that... how shall I put this.... oh, right. The weirdest thing you've ever heard???? See, I've reached the decision to get a degree in computer programming. As I can't start it right away, I checked out a couple of "Teach yourself html" books from the library. I went through almost half of that book twice. I read it through, and then I went back and took notes on things I was afraid I'd forget. And the good news? It didn't give me a headache! Yay!

You all know that I'm doing the scavenger hunt swap right? Well today I've been working on figuring out what to get my person. I've got something already for "something 'T'" and "something hard." I have something local, something green, and the spoilers choice picked out. I Just need to get them. So all that's left is something round (I know sorta was I'm getting, but not exactly) and something funny. I have no idea for the something funny. Any suggestions? I know, how could you possibly know that without knowing who it is.... well, I'll give you a hint: She's a relatively new knitter, and has next to nothing in the way of knitting goodies. What do you think?

P.S. Sorry I haven't blogged for a few days... don't you hate it when life gets in the way of all your fun? :)

I got stuck in a potholder

Guess what I did today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You got it! They're FINISHED. Completely. And... I love the way they feel. So soft, so incredibly SOFT after washing. UGH I hate it because I know I hate the yarn. Angie says to wash it first but... I don't have a swift and I'm convinced that that way lies madness (I have a skein of it in black...) but we'll burn that bridge when we get there. BTW have I ever told you how much my camera HATES these socks???? Ugh so hard to take a picture of them...

When I finished, I actually cried I was so relieved. Because I HATED the yarn. Hated hated hated it. But I'm soooo glad I'm done. The toes both look like.... well they're bad. The first one... well that was like six months ago so I'm not sure what's up with that but this one my husband kept distracting me while I was grafting... but I don't even CARE. I'm that relieved. And at the end? The greatest event in knitting. The great yarn race.

Yikes. We're talking like, 10 yards. Yikes.

Pattern: Loksins! Socks by Cassie Thorenson
Yarn: Universal Pace, 220 yards to 50 grams (and I only used one. Please don't ask me how. I don't know. I'm still reeling.)
Needles: Set of 4 (actually I used 5 on the first one) U.S. size 2's.

Aren't you proud of me?!? I'm so happy! Yay! :)

I Pirate Soda

Just a short blog today because I went grocery shopping by myself today for the first time EVER since Dylan and I got married and I'm so tired. The store we go to has you bag your own groceries and we shop for two weeks at a time, so I had to push this big heavy cart around, load all the groceries up to be scanned, then bag it all myself. PHEW! I'm beat.

So anyway, I finished the first loksin except grafting the toe and I'm one row away from the heel on #2. Miss Dashwood was a specatcular failure. I wondered why it was eating yarn at such a specatcular rate. This is why.




It's big enough to fit me. Yeah. The reason I look so happy in this picture? Because DH was saying "Say monkey cheese!" and cracking me up. I really wanted to cry. It's been ripped and I haven't started over yet. I'm focusing on loksins and my shawl right now. I finally said "Screw the boot liners, I can't put myself through this anymore!" so I actually bought Dylan some thick socks at Walmart today. Who knows how long it'll be till he wears them out, but it'll be ok. Ok, I'm done bloggin now. I'm really tired. lol

What are they throwing at those strippers...

Wow, what a busy day! I didn't have anything to watch or do online, so I decided to do some cleaning and organizing. First of all, you guys remember (probably not, as it was before this blog...) the organizer Dave bought me last year? (Go on, look, you know you want to...) Well, he bought me this shoe organizer because he thought it would look nicer and hold more, and he was right! So I went through my stash (fun times, let me tell you... turns out I have a VERY small stash. Who knew?) which was either A) In the old organizer, B) In this big gray box, or C) Scattered around the entire house. (Mostly C). So Here's what it all looks like now!

There it is. Each project has it's own little cubby hole, and since I don't have THAT many wips, some of the spaces are reserved for special yarn... i.e., lace weight, sock yarn, sws, baby yarn... like that. :) There's actually one who space for yarn I'm going to use in fingerless gloves... that's just awesome lol! Here's the original organizer thing.

It's mostly empty... a space for things to be frogged (there's three in there... yikes lol) A space for ball bands and beads, a space for fabric, a space for FO's that dont' have a home... and my scissors and stitch markers and stuff like that are still in there so they don't get lost. Now, advert your eyes if you have a weak stomach. It's the rest of my stash (in other words... nasty acrylic that will never get touched but can't be thrown out cause it's YARN) and it's a big... tangled... mess.

Also in the big gray box is a smaller clear box with a blue lid. See?

It's all of my cross-stitching stuff! Bet you didn't know I could cross-stitch. I can. I haven't at all except for this thing I did for Emmy since I learned how to knit, but there you have it. :) I also did some screwdrivering. Soooo not a word but I don't care. I finally got around to doing this!

I think it looks really cool. The only way I could get a good picture was to take it in the mirror. Yes, I know the frames don't match the clock but the clock isn't going to be there long, because as you can see... it's backwards in the mirror, and confusing! LOL! Dave's mom and dad got us this for Christmas.

It's a wall hanging thing because they know how much we love our dogs (his family didn't get us anything we asked for but they got us all kinds of dog stuff, it's pretty cool.) Anyway, I hung it up above where the dogs eat today. See?

I was proud of myself. The hanging part was easy, but I had to measure to make sure it was straight and it's 82 inches off the ground so it was hard. So that's what I did today. I didn't knit much, but I did finish a repeat on Loksins. 5 repeats left then I get to do the toe! Yay! Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow, Angie and I are watching LOTR: The fellowship of the ring tomorrow. Lots of knitting time. :) Hey, one more thing. My knitting books and magazines don't have a permanant home yet, but until they get one, they're living on my desk.

There they are! :) Have a great day you guys!

Pourquoi Quebec??

Hey look, it's me again!

I'm in love...

Passionate. Mad. Deep deep deep love.

No, I am not leaving my husband. Though if the knitting project I'm talking about were a person... Just kidding honey! (Note to self: Show love by finishing accursed boot liners...)

What, you ask, am I so in love with?



This beauty. That would be my first Loksins sock. Yes, I just started that yesterday. I worked on it through two Pirates of the Carribean movies, a documentary on medieval England (half an hour) and a documentary on WWII (another half an hour) plus I finished the last rows of the gusset this morning hanging out with DH before he left for work. I think I've only loved one other knitting project done for myself as much as this. Really. I don't think second sock syndrome is even going to come into play. I love the pattern so much I'm thinking about starting the second one on another set of size 2 needles just so I can do that leg pattern over again. Yes, I have lost it.

In other knitting news, Miss O's Miss Dashwood looks like this now:




That cast on? ANNOYING. Will I do it again, in red, for the daughter that's waiting for Dylan and I to be ready to have her? Oh yes.

Ooooh, can I lick the bowl?

Well, I've been working on stuff, but nothing new, but you all know how much I love my camera, so you get to see some progress. :) First though, lookie.

I have NAILS. And my cuticles... look at them! They're not all chewed and swollen! That's just amazing to me... please ignore the pinky. He's trying to grow but he keeps breaking. Note: BREAKING. Not being chewed off, but breaking. It's amazing. BOTH hands are like that, but it's incredibly hard to take a picture of both of your hands so... :)

Ok, so if I'm in the living room on the phone or watching TV or soemthing, I'm working on my baby blanket. I'm on the last color, but I still have like 24 rows left of it. When I'm done, before the edging, I'll have 460 stitches. Anyone else nauseated by that? No? Ok.

It's so pretty and soft... :) Then, if I'm at the computer, I'm working on this.

It's making slow progress, not cause it's hard, but cause I'm a perfectionist and if a stitch looks bad I rip it out. It's too small to look good on yet, so there's a skein of yarn modeling it. :) I'm really liking the crocheting thing, but it's really hard for me for some reason. Today, as you'll see in Angie's post, I'm being beaten by her in the great loksins race (well, not yet, but if she keeps it up she'll kick my a**... so... I'm going to work on mine. :) Hopefully I'll get the gussets done today. Thanks for stopping by! Just for you, here's a special pic...

...Of Dave and Mattie. Awww...

I need a hoodie, some socks, and a banana

Hey look, I'm blogging! I didn't plan on blogging just now, but... well, here's the conversation I just had with Krystal via im:

Krystal Grams: yeah. you NEED to blog
Krystal Grams: stop knitting
Krystal Grams: blog
Krystal Grams: now
Krystal Grams: go
Krystal Grams: lol
Angie Ferrier: Grrr... but... but... but... SOCKS!
Angie Ferrier: *cracks up*
Krystal Grams: *cracks up* no. put them down. blog
Angie Ferrier: *growls and goes to get batteries for the camera*
Krystal Grams: *laugh* thank you

And now I'm blogging. It isn't that I didn't WANT to blog (or that I do everything that Krystal tells me to. Far from it. lol), but it's that I enjoy knitting much much more. But she's right. I really need to blog.

So here's what I've been working on:



Pattern: Minttumaari-huivi from Ulla. (How cute is that little dress on the main page??) It's in Finnish but you really just need to know how to work from a chart. And just barely that. Very easy
Yarn: The absolutely beautiful Zephyr that Krystal got me for Christmas. I had to tweak the photo a little in photoshop to get the true color and that screwed around with the color of everything else, but at least the shawl looks good. lol



Pattern: Loksins. Yes, same pattern Krystal is doing for her second sock syndrome KAL. I'm attempting to light a fire under her butt by injecting a little friendly competition. Not only that but it's a gorgeous pattern I've been meaning to knit for awhile now.
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks




Pattern: Miss Dashwood. Here I've done about half of the cast on. The irritating, bobbly, crazy-making cast on. Miss O is going to be beautiful in this (not as if she isn't already beautiful). I think some little star or heart shaped sunglasses and some sunscreen will be just the thing to give her with this hat. Do they make baby sunglasses? Hmmm....
Yarn: Cotton-Ease in lime

There. That's everything interesting I've been knitting. There's also a plain sock in some really ugly Regia sock yarn and some boot liners for Dylan done in acrylic that makes me want to weep... but these are the projects I love the most. Hence, the ones you get to see! Ok, now I'm off to work on my Loksins.

There's always room for Zombies

Hey everyone! How's it going? Pretty good here. The hat was about half done, then ripped because it was too small. It's about half done again... and still looking kinda small, but I'm just going to keep going. Angie thinks I crochet too tightly... I wouldn't be surprised. After all, I know I knit too tightly... I'd post a picture, but I decided to just wait until it's done. Until then, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon along with.... a lot of other people and joing the 2008 ABC Along.

Basically, every two weeks you post a picture of something that starts with a letter of the alphabet. It's going to be fun! Plus, it's a good way for you all to get to know me. If you want to do it, hurry on over there, as sign-ups close tomorrow.

So, here's the part where I post my letter. I'm also going to keep a running list in the sidebar (for two reasons. 1. I like lists. 2. I can.) so if the desire strikes you to see all of my letters at once, you can feel free.

A is for... Armwarmers.

(I know, I'm not the most creative cookie...). You all know how much I love them. They're fun to knit, and so practical... I've almost worn my pair out that I made a few weeks ago. I love them, and I don't know how I survived without them. I even sleep in them half the time.

Now, on to more interesting things. (I know, not really possible...) But my sister sent me this in an email and I thought, heck, I've already bugged them all to death with little surveys, might as well add one more. So, in case you want to know me better, here you go. (It's real short, it'll only take a few minutes to read.) :)

Four things

Four jobs I've had in my life:

1. Bagger - Kroger

2. Cashier - Target

3. Jewelry Clerk - Kohl's

4. Wife - Trust me, this counts

Four places I have lived:

1. Reynoldsburg, OH

2. Orient, OH

3. Presque Isle, Maine

4. Salem, OH

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Virginia Beach, VA

2. Millersburg, OH

3. Washington, DC

4. Caribou, Maine (We kinda lived there for a couple months, but it was really just an extended vacation...)

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Pasta

2. Ice Cream

3. Mexican (but there's not much I can have now, because I'm trying the vegetarian thing.)

4. Pop Tarts

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Canada

2. Knitting

3. Seeing my boys (my newphews)

4. Um... a Hanson concert?

Four friends or relatives I think may respond:

1. Angie

2. Heather

3. Diane

4. Maybe Andy? I don't know

Now, here's what you're supposed to do. Copy and paste, delete my answers and type in your answers. Then, post it on your blog or email it if you want, it's up to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about those who know you.

Ahhhh! I'm turning into a monkey!!!!

Oh my gosh you guys... I'm not putting any picture on the blog. I think this is a first... I've been knitting and stuff, but mostly on the baby blanket, which looks exactly like it did Monday, only bigger. I started Evangeline from magknits yesterday, but I had to frog them because they were too big. (No, I didn't check gauge, why do you ask?) I've also worked on loksins a lot (not today yet) trying to get it done.... but that's not what I'm writing about today. Today I'm writing about the very scary, life changing thing that just happened to me. I was talking to Angie and I said "I don't know what I want to do. I don't want to play video games, and believe it or not, I don't want to knit..." and then it hit me.

I want to crochet. In fact, I have a specific design in mind. It's the peek-a-boo flower hat from gethooked.net. I do not like the flower. But that's ok. I'm going to use bernat satins, in this pink color (I don't know the colorway off hand, I'll tell you later.) I'm getting ready to leave now to get a crochet hook. Ugh, I can not believe I'm doing this. Please, help me! I've gone over to the dark side...

Oh yeah, and my friend Emmy has pink eye. Think good, healthy eye thoughts for her, would you? Thanks guys! Have a good day!

Do you know the number for the crazy police?

Hey guys, how's it going? Pretty good here, just been knitting (No way! Knitting, you say! Weird!) This is just going to be a short post (I think I got ya covered with the long posts...) but I wanted to let you know what I was up to. First off, last night I started the gussets on my loksins sock (Thank goodness!!!)

Whoa, a picture that actually looks like the right color red... what's up with that? Ok, remember these conditions, cloudy, snowy day, no lights in the computer room around 2 in the afternoon, just the computer monitor on, auto flash, close up. Ok, now I'm rereading that and I realize that you all must think I'm completely nuts. Oh well. :)

Then, I've also been working on this.

It's my pinwheel baby blanket! I've decided to have the colors fade out as it goes, instead of stripes. (Did I mention I was going to do stripes? No? Huh.) Anyway, I started with the darker blue, now I'm working with the lighter blue, then I'm going to do the outside with white. And... brace yourselves... I'm thinking about doing a crocheted edging. I know, I've gone over to the dark side... but I think I'm going to do it in the same blue color that's in the middle, to draw it all in. What do you all think? Or maybe I should do the light blue... hmm... I'm not sure! It's diameter is 15 inches, so I'm halfway done or so! :)

How was everyone's weekend? Thanks for stopping by!

Wait, are we talking about monkey prostitutes?

Hey guys! How is everyone? I've been trying to blog everyday, or close to it, but the last couple days I didn't get to because we were without internet (can you imagine? No Ravelry? No blogs? I was practically dieing...) So instead of being on the internet all day, every day, I did some crafting. Mostly knitting, granted, but I also had an cool project to do. In other words, this will be a picture heavy post, just to warn you all. Remember the other day, I asked what you could do with two frames, some fabric, and an i-cord? Well, here is part of the answer. (Actually, I did this before I lost the internet, but didn't get to blog about it. He he...) See, I needed a solution to my jewelry problem. Because my Jewelry box, while precious...

Is old and tiny, and full to the brim.

So I checked craftster.com, and foudn some neat ideas, like one person who make an earring tree from a postcard, and someone else who used cds and used a hot needle to poke holes in it. And those ideas, while very cool, weren't right for me. I couldn't see myself hanging a postcard or CDs anywhere. So I came up with my own idea. .

Jewelry Frames

I took these two picture frames I got at wally world, (3 dollars each) and some fabric I got there as well, and some tacky glue, and did this.

Actually, that's just a mess. I did THIS.

That is the earring frame. For this one, I took the glass and the cardboard piece on the back of the frame out, and cut the fabric to fit. I decided that would be too flimsy, so I added a section from the back of a phone book to the back.

I glued them together and then to the inside (not the very back) of the frame, so that there would be room for the backs of the earrings to poke through. Then I just poked my earrings through when the glue was dry, and ta da! The other frame was a little more difficult. I bought a couple packs of these little gold hooks from wally world, and I wanted to screw them into the cardboard backing. Well, this proved WAY too difficult, so I got a nail and a pair of pliers and shoves the nail through, then I screwed the hooks in. Worked much better. Then I screwed them in with the fabric on it, and when they were all in I pulled the fabric as tight as I could and glued it to the back of the cardboard.

Then I put it in the frame. Easy peasy!

I love the way it looks with the necklaces on it.

Tomorrow, we're going to hang them on the wall, and I'll add a finished picture. I didn't do the i-cord thing yet, and I'm not sure I will. I will tell you what i was thinking. I thought about hanging the frames close together, and then somehow attaching an i-cord to each of them, to hang my rings on... but I don't know if I like that idea. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do about my rings?

The Fake Isle Project

Do you guys remember my fake isle hat? Well, I finally decided what to do about the giantness of the hat. I decided to felt it a little bit. So in order to know how it would felt, I knitted a swatch with some leftover sws from my fingerless mitts, and felted it. Scariest thing ever.

But I learned some things from it. For example, I really really really like the way sws looks felted. I don't like the way it feels. It's not soft anymore. I'm thinking about making a felted purse though out of it. Possibly the geranium color. Anyway, when I started to felt it, it was 6.5 inches across (someone please explain how my gauge is, every time, 5 sts per inch, and I cast on 20 stitches, and got a swatch that was 6.5 inches across.) and 6 inches long.

After felting (isn't it pretty???) It was 4.5 inches by 4 inches. It was actually less than four but I stretched it so that it would be more square. This told me that my hat would shrink more lengthwise than width wise, which is perfect because that's what I needed. So, I entered into phase two of the scariest thing ever. I felted the hat. Here it is directly after felting.

You can't really even tell it was felted. It only looks a little tiny bit different. I wanted to go a little farther, but I didn't want it to get stiff, so I stopped. It's almost dry today, but I tried it on anyway, and good news!

(Please ignore the giant bags under my eyes... I'm an insomniac.) It fits perfectly. That picture makes it look a little baggy on the top still, but it's not... It's just the way my hair was fixed lol.

Loksins!

That's right, loksins. I'm actually working on it everyday for a little while. It is the slowest moving sock EVER. I'm on the heel flap now though. (Please try to ignore the fact that this picture is horrible and the sock looks orange. It's not.)

My camera HATES red. Or this sock. Or both. Here's a picture of the detail, which is a little better.

I love the way it looks, but I hate the way this yarn feels. It's all... icky.

In other news (yes, there's still more. Have I lost any of you yet?) I got my yarn from knitpicks, and will be starting my endpaper mitts very very soon.

Buckeye colors! Sorta. They're a little too dark, but I think they'll be ok.

Last but not least, at all, is the baby blanket. Last November, Dave bought me some baby yarn. Well, I finally decided to put it to some use. I'm making the pinwheel baby blanket. I'm using the "blue bon bon" colorway, and it's so pretty! It's blue with a little silver thread woven through. (btw, it's Benat baby coordinates.) I'm using my trusty size 8's, but I'm going to have to get a bigger circular needle... the only one I have is only 16 inches lol. I normally hate acrylic but this... this isn't so bad. I'll probably use it to lay on the floor, or over the carseat, once I have a baby. But anyway, here it is so far.

I LOVE it! Have a good weekend everyone!