Cheerio Spins

Well Now

2006-07-02T18:40:00.000-04:00

I don't think anyone really reads this blog except my mother, but if anyone does they should first of all know that I'm not dead. Infact sometimes I feel as though I am to much alive if that's possible. So why haven't I posted at all? Well for that I have no good reason other then forgetfulness, a little laziness, some pain, and some just plain ol' not feeling like it. I haven't created all that much since my last post all those weeks ago. I've crocheted a preemie hat, with matching booties, and am working on a matching blanket. I've also wet felted a scarf and an amazingly awesome purse. Not with knitting/crocheting something then washing it but just with hot soapy water and wool. A few mini items are in progress, and I've made several pounds of soap. That's about it. I haven't made much mostly for the same reasons I haven't posted here. Mostly from pain. I've been having issues with my arm, just like I was about 2 years ago. We think we've got it figured out though, so hopefully my pain will end soon.

There's nothing really new in my life at all. But maybe there will be soon and hopefully I'll keep posting so you can know about them.

I've been offtrack, But I got pulled back

2006-05-08T16:58:00.000-04:00

Since returning from SC I've devoted nearly all my freetime to my business. I had figured out what new items I wanted to add (soaps, candles, etc) then spent hours researching those things, and deciding what month to add which product. I had it all mostly planned out. Soaps (with essential oils) added next month (400 pounds worth of it!), Candles added After that, And put off budgeting for fiber arts stuff, (like accessories for my spinning year, wholesale yarns, or stuff to sell dyed silk scarves) I had it all wrong! I should be focusing on fiber arts first! That was the point of the business after all! Then add everything else later, after I'm doing all th efiber arts stuff I can! So I'll keep all that research that took hours and hours to compile and move in the direction I need to go, to direction that leads to wool (and silk, and cotton, and acrylic, and and and)

So be on the look out for updates about my soon to be website! As well as additions to my Etsy shop!

Caution: Photo Intensive!!

2006-05-05T11:43:00.000-04:00

Here's a photo style update of my life recently! Please keep in Mind that like the rest of my life these are in no particular order.

First the flower by the window. Lately my neighbor and I have conversed a few times, and we've talked about yards and weeds among other things, which brought to my attention that two of my hedges were dead, with one living one in the middle oddly enough, and behind these hedges was a giant weed. So I went closer to investigate and decided I didn't think it was a weed. It's a good thing I didn't pull it up! Look what grows on it!

I don't know flowers very well, despite the fact that I run the floral department at work! but think it is either a peony, or a cabbage rose? It smells BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! Yesterday when conversing with my neighbor again I looked up and saw it! The most beautiful flower near my window!

I've been making a lot of jewelry lately. Here's some proof:

I recently outgrew my plastic shoebox styles container I was using for some of my beading supplies. Essentially I have to be able to keep my bveads that we DO sell at work apart from those that we DON'T, because of my classes, and samples and whatnot. So I was keeping all my work does have stuff in the shoebox, and all my other stuff in a seperate system. But since i outgrew my shoebox I made Nick (read- I used his deibt card and told him he bought me a present) buy me this! It contains tons of pockets and such, plus 84 (or was it 87?) compartments with EZYLock! You have to push a button AND open the lid for it to open, each compartment opens individually, and they won't come open in transport or accidentally get your beads all mixed together in one weird glob.

I'm figuring I'll add some of my other beads that work doesn't have, all in seperate orgainzers from works does have ones, then just label them. So If I am going to class I justtake out the non work ones, and if I'm working on soemthing I can still have everything with me work or nonwork.

Here's the yarn I was dyeing last week. Well some of it anyway. It wasn't exactly whats I was going for but.... I think I might use it to make a bathmat instead of selling it.

And you know how in books the writer/artist alway shas this amazing clean studio?? Well this is what mine looks like:

I think I better wait awhile to write a book. The table is a new development. It's been in the upstairs extra bedroom since we moved in, andI've always wanted to move it down, but just did it this morning. Once the rest of the studio is clean, the table will really pull it all together!

My Mom realized recently that she didn't get a picture of the quilt she made us, so I took one to uploadfor her. Here it is:

We sleep with a lot of stuff on the bed, and never make it, so I just spread the quilt out over top of everything. Sorry for the lumps.

What do you make with just one skein of yarn? Well I always had a few ideas but I have a lot more thanks to Valerie! My Fiber Goddaughter turned the tables and sent me this great book as a thank you for spoiling her!

Recently I FINALLY got something I've been wanting for a long time. A Franklin Covey planner!! It's like the generic kind with undated pages and such, but hey I like it! All that matters to me is that it is a REAL F.C. and that I like it.

Last week Nick suprised me with flowers. I didn't get a picture until just now, but they really were lovely. The roses are already drying up, so I ripped the heads off and dumped them in a bowl, I plan on adding them to some soap. The daisy ones are still going though.

And just for kicks here's a funny Sunshine Pic:

Just Aquick Post

2006-04-28T12:12:00.000-04:00

I haven't really posted lately. I don't have a very good reason for it. The last week or so I've been devoting a lot of time to my business, doing research, gathering ideas, making some things, and more. I just wanted to post again to say I'm not dead or anything. Life is going fine, just mostly uneventful.

So right now I've got some stuff dyeing in the studio. It's actually almost time to rinse it. I bought 30 skeins of white cotton yarn at work with the sole purpose of dyeing it. Right now I have 12 skeins going. 2 colors, each one with 3 solids and 3 patterns. How you ask? Well if I ball up the hank it gets a great varied variegated look, but if I leave it in a hank but not wrapped up, it's a solid. So I'll end up with 6 skeins of yarn in the exact same shade! Then 6 more in a (hopefully) matching color, that all match each other! It'll be pretty great! I'lll post pictures.

Tonight I have to work. I actually like working Friday nights. I have a buddy at work that I only get to work with for 4 hours a week, and it's on Friday night. Also we don't do much on Friday. There is a lot of playing around, joking, standing around chatting, etc. It's kinda like my lazy day. I sleep late, then go ot work and do nothing and hang out with friends while getting paid for it. Now I have no problem with working on Friday, and actually doing stuff, but there just isn't ever anything to do! So tonight I'll have fun with my buddies and have a good night, then post pictrues sometime tomorrow.

Tomorrow night is girls night. It was supposed to be tonight, but one girl REALLLLLY wants to go bowling, and not just any bowling but Cosmic Bowling, which ONLY happens at MIDNIGHT on Saturday! So Tomorrow night I'll be going out, for girls night out.

Now let me go rinse my yarn!

I just took A TON of quizzes!

2006-04-23T00:21:00.000-04:00

Don't believe me? Look: !!!

Snickers

Nutty and gooey - you always satisfy.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

Your Personality Profile

You are nurturing, kind, and lucky.

Like mother nature, you want to help everyone.

You are good at keeping secrets and tend to be secretive.

A seeker of harmony, you are a natural peacemaker.

You are good natured and people enjoy your company.

You put people at ease and make them feel at home with you.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere.

And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

What European City Do You Belong In?

You Are Marge Simpson

You're a devoted family member who loves unconditionally.

Sometimes, though, you dream about living a wild secret life!

You will be remembered for: your good cooking and evading the police

Your life philosophy: "You should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head."

The Simpsons Personality Test

Your 2005 Song Is

Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz

"Love forever love is free.

Let's turn forever you and me."

In 2005, you were loving life and feeling no pain.

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch.

Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes.

You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them.

You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Your Career Type: Artistic

You are expressive, original, and independent.

Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art.

You would make an excellent:

Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor

Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer

Dancer - DJ - Graphic Designer

Illustrator - Musician - Sculptor

The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Your Inner Child Is Happy

You see life as simple, and simple is a very good thing.

You're cheerful and upbeat, taking everything as it comes.

And you decide not to worry, even when things look bad.

You figure there's just so many great things to look forward to.

How Is Your Inner Child?

You Are 56% Abnormal

You are at medium risk for being a psychopath. It is somewhat likely that you have no soul.

You are at high risk for having a borderline personality. It is very likely that you are a chaotic mess.

You are at high risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is very likely that you are in love with your own reflection.

You are at low risk for having a social phobia. It is unlikely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement.

You are at medium risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is somewhat likely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.

How Abnormal Are You?

Your Animal Personality

Your Power Animal: Deer

Animal You Were in a Past Life: Panda

You are a fun-seeker - an adventurous, risk-taker.

While you are spontaneous, you are not very rational.

The Animal Personality Test

Your Fortune Is

Man who drop watch in toilet bound to have shitty time.

The Wacky Fortune Cookie Generator

And those are only the results that I either liked, found humorous, or thought really describe me.

A Quick Quick Update

2006-04-21T13:24:00.000-04:00

I have to work night shift today. I literally need to leave for work, um now. But I wanted to update a few things real fast.

I added a link to my Mom's Blog. If you're reading this check it out. She talks abotu her turtles, which are probably the love of her life, even above my brother, my dad, and I probably! I think she'd love to know some people are reading it, and it's interesting stuff!

I didn't give my myspace info, my site addy is http://myspace.com/cheeriospins I think. You can check me out there if you want.

Today I fell down the stairs. Not like head over heels, but more like a slide. I have no idea what happened. I was walking down and saw the dog got hold of something, so I bent down picked it up, stood back up, then next thing I know I was pretty much at the bottom of the stairs. I think I'm fine. I mean I have a slight headache, and was dizzy at first, but I feel mostly ok now. It was terrifying though. It all happened so fast, and I don't remember hitting my head, but it sure does hurt. My elbows have some rug burn. And yes I was holding onto the railing, atleast I was. In fact I think I held it the whole way down, and slightly jammed my finger somehow in the process. I dunno, the whoel thing was weird.

Today I made some soap, so I'll be adding a few bars to my etsy store soon.

have a great day!

I was tagged...

2006-04-20T17:38:00.000-04:00

My Mom tagged me today in an email, and though I get over 500 emails a day I dont really know my friends emails or anything, so I'm posting it here instead! Here goes!

How Well Do You Know Me?

For instance, did you know...

Five jobs I have had in my life:
1) Subway Restuarant
2) Hotel Housekeeper
3) Avon Lady (which didn't go so well)
4) Video Game Store employee
5) College IT Dept.

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1) Empire Records
2)Any Harry Potter
3) 13 going on 30
4) How to Deal
and a bonus 5) Princess Bride

Four places I have lived:
1) Westminster, MD
2) Gettysburg, PA
3) Manning, SC
4) Alexandria, VA

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1) Family Guy
2) The Simpsons
3) Seinfield
4) American Inventor

Four places I have been on vacation/a trip to:
1)Maryland
2)Florida
3)The Beach
4)South Carolina

Four web sites I visit daily:
1) My yahoo mail
2) My MSN mail
3) The others change daily. I have lots i check regularly, but not every day

Four of my favorite foods:
1) Chocolate
2) Lasagana
3) Pizza
4) Honey BBQ Wings

Four places I would rather be right now:
No where. I'm at home and happy. Well maybe England.

Four friends who I have tagged, that I think will respond:
1. No idea. If you are ready this, and you haven't done it already, you're tagged!

I'm getting prety bad at this blogging thing

2006-04-19T16:51:00.000-04:00

I just keep going entirely to long without posting. But here's an update:

1) I amback at home now. Home today sick from work with a stomach bug, and home from SC.

2) I'm not going to do SP again. I just haven't felt a connection with either of the people I spoiled, though they are prefectly nice and all, and this time i never even got my final package from my spoiler. I think that it's just to many people, and it gets to crazy and there's just no way with that many people that it could be a good swap every time.

3) I signed up at myspace, mostly to see if I can figure out what the big deal is. I just don't get it. I doubt anyone will be my friend on there. So far I asked my brother, his girlfriend, and one old friend of mine. My current friends on there? My brother and the default owner guy.

4) while in SC I set a blog up for my mom. I didn't get a chance to show her how to use it, because she was not feling well and fell asleep mid teaching. BUT I wrote everything down, and MOM since I know you're reading this remember I didn't create a blog for you for nothing!

Here's some pictures from my trip:

My very first Amigurumi. I gave this one to my soon (how soon we don't actually know) to be nephew.

My soon to be nephew is the cutest little guy. I just can't help but love him.

Here's some random pics from my Easter Egg Hunt. The best $50ish dollar I ever spent. I had 288 eggs total, but we used 190 for the main hunt, the others were split up for some other kids who couldn't make the main hunt. There was a total of about 10 pounds of candy, plus some toys. Stuff I need to remember for next year:
1) More eggs
2) chocolate melts amazingly fast outside!! We're talking mere minutes here!
3) more toys, like stuff from Oriental Trading

And since coming back home, I've become more dedicated to doing some charity work. Below is a touching (to me anyway) photo montage that was done for one of the charities I am working with. Just click the link to view it. I'll also add links to the three charities on my sidebar.

Heavenly Angels in Need

Wow I can't believe...

2006-04-05T18:02:00.000-04:00

That I haven't posted in almost a month!!! I'm so horrible. I don't have a whole lot to say so here's somewhat of a top ten:

1) I am not at home right now. I'm staying with my parents as a little vacation. Therefore:
2) SP7, I didn't recieve my final package before I left (Friday the 31st) but I will let you know if it is there when I get back. Right now the post is holding my mail.
3) While here I've been pretty bored. I've slept a little more then needed, and eaten a little more too.
4) To help kill time I printed out the article at crochetme.com for Amigurimi because I'd been wanting to but my printer is out of ink, and I then
5) set out to try it! It is so hopelessly addicting! And quick too!! I've made about 4 or so critters already, and only started Monday morning!!!
6) I really miss my cats and I hope my neighbor is doing a good job looking after them.
7) I also miss my best friend Shannon, and all the girls too.
8) I'm thinking of making everyone from #7 an amigurimi character.
9) I spent some time with my brother's girlfriends son, who is a great little guy. He's been sick but I could totally picture being his Aunt, which according to them will happen sometime in the future in May, but not nessicarily of this year.
10) Did I mention I'm pretty bored? I really don't understand who I lived here as long as I did. Everything is so slow moving, there aren't many tv channels, people dress kinda funny (the other day a lady who seemed to think she was either a. a high class ho in a fancy city, b. a trashy drunk, or c a redneck, but has probably never been out of this town in her entire life looked at me funny for buying this awesome vintage vest!) My brother says the black hat we got him is "to gangster" and "needs to fade and wear in before he will wear it alot." His current hat is tan with bluish stuff at the top, but apprently started out navy blue. All the guys around here are pretty much like that. I understand now why I always felt so out of place here, well really I always understood, but being here again really forces me to face it again.

So long for this post!

Stupid blog!!!

2006-03-12T10:41:00.000-05:00

Every single time I post a lonngggggggg post something happens. It alwasy manages to get deleted! This time? Well a day or so ago I posted a gigantically long post, and when I hit Post, the server went down!!! My post disappeared into cyber space! Again!!!!

So I'm going to repost a fast post. Sorry for the lack of detial, but I just can't post another long message.

My Fiber Godmother sent me my final package and it contained some Sanrio Hello Kitty bubble gum, a long strip of it you tear off a little pack at a time, some felted soap, a little thing of euculan woolwash, and a kit from Habu Textiles to make a fringed choker in burgundy and tannish colored yarns. She also sent a postcard, from North Carolina to illustrate where she is from. And who is SHE exactly?? Tvini! From http://tvini.livejournal.com/. Thanks t!!!!! You've been great!!

And for those that don't know my stupid internet is messing up, hence the reason why my most recent post was from a day or two ago (or would have been) I think we've gotten it all worked out now though.

I also got a package from my SP71!!! It contained the BEST scarve/wrap from H&M. I was already dressed for work when it came, but I ran upstairs to change so I could wear it to work! She also included a Yankee Candle in Storm Watch, a book The Crochet Answer Book, a great little bookmark, and !!!!!!! 2 skeins of Noro in my favorite colors!!!!!!! Thanks Pal!!!!

Other then work what have I done? Well I've dyed a few pounds of wool, roving, and cotton. And I also have been painting little "wargaming figures" These particular ones are from an old game called Hero's Quest, but I'm painting them to use for Dungeons and Dragons that we recently started playing! We just don't have very many figures so I wanted to do something for more figures next time.

And that's pretty much what's been going on here. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll post them later.

Four meme and all that other update stuff

2006-02-23T18:12:00.000-05:00

I was reading Creature Comforts (http://www.creature_comforts.typepad.com/) and she tagged anyone that hadn't been tagged yet, and wanted to be so... Oh and she added a few questions too.

Four Jobs I've Had: I've had 9, but here's just 4 of them
- Subway Sandwich Artist
-Hotel Housekeeper
-College IT Assistant
-Video Game Advisor (I worked in a game shop)

Four Sites I Check Daily:
Hummmmmmmm daily?
- yahoo mail
-my msn mail
-my 60+ yahoo groups (usually I do 3-4 a day not all of them every day)
- i dunno, my sites tend to change daily

-Four Places I've Lived:
I haven't moved that much but I think I have four:
- Penns.
- SOuth Carolina
- Virginia
-Maryland

Four Places I've Holidayed:
I've never hardly been on a real vacation. The closest I've come is traveling in an RV for a week to get to my Grandmothers, making cool stops along the way. Usually for "vacation" we always go see family.
- Maryland (before I lived here)
- Florida
- South Carolina (after i moved away)
- North Carolina (one of our RV stops)

Four Places I'd Rather Be Now:
- Nowhere, I'm happy where I am I suppose
- Although I would love to move to the UK.

Four Films I Could Watch Over and Over Again:
- Empire Records
- How to Make an American Quilt
- How to Deal
- 13 Going on 30 (or whatever it's called)
- Oh WAIT Harry Potter 1-4!!! I watch atleast 1 a week.

Four TV Shows I Love:
- The Simpsons
- Family Guy
- Creature Comforts (a british show using claymation to interview animals, it's hilarious!!! If you haven't already watch it!!!)
- Roseanne ( i even tivo it!)

Four of My Favorite Dishes:
-Pasta anything
-My dads hamburgers
- tuna salad
- popcorn- it's a meal if you eat it like one!

Four Magazines I Love:
I subsribe to over 30 magazines (yea no joke!) so this is tough!
- Spin Off
-Dollhouse Minatures
- I can't remember the rest

Four Products I Can't Live Without:
- A slotted spoon- I use my slotted spoon more then anything when I cook
- my Louet
- roving/fiber/yarn
- my computer
Four Words That Describe Me Best:
- crazy
-goofy
- weird
-talkative

Four Things You Didn't Know About Me Until Now:
- At work they call me "Bubble Girl" because I am both afraid off, and allergic to almost everything.

- I was born in Maryland, and then 21 years later moved back to a town only 45 minutes away from where I was born.

- Almost every day of my life I've slept with a white soft blanket named "Fuzzy." Even today it shares a bed with my husband and I. It's isn't like a baby blanket or anything, it's a full sized bed blanket, but I just like to cuddle it. I've had it so long I can't sleep without it. A friend of mine is highschool used to always call me Fuzzy Wuzzy (and sing the song constantly) because of it.

- I once was addicted to milk, I was up to a gallon every 1.5-2 days, plus the milk I drank when eating out. That's where this extra 30 lbs came from.

So I dunno who to tag, I dunno who reads this. So if you want to be tagged, TAG your it!

Wow this whole post is taking me forever. I saved it as a draft and am now on day two of typing it up!!

I can't believe I have a whole week to catch up on! I hope I don't forget to say anything. I'll just go through the week.

Saturday last week we went on a quest for "Color in Spinning" two weeks ago (now anyway) I saw it and passed it up, then I was no more then home and decided I made a big mistake! I HAD to have it! So this past weekend we went to get it. We decided we would go to the nearby town to our favorite burger joint and then to bookstore in the same shopping center to get the book, finish off with a little DQ, and be back home in about an hour. That didn't work. We went to the bookstore and they didn't have it. So we had to go to the bookstore in the next shopping center (yes they are literally that close together) and that bookstore didn't have it! So they called the bookstore where I originally found it, the store that is about 30 minutes from that store, and they DID still have one copy left. They were holding it for me. So what did we do? Well at about 9:30 at night we headed to get it! We got there, looked around a bit, then got back home at about 11. We drove around two counties to get that book. But boy was it worth it!!!! I was up until 4 am just looking at it and reading pieces of it! If you don't have it I really recommend getting it.

So after being up late I woke up about 11 the next day to go to my very first Fiber Club/Spinning Guild. They are an unoffical guild with no dues or agenda, you just go and work on stuff. And it was GREAT! I had a good time and plan on going again. It's every month. There were about a dozen ladies there. Most were spinning, and they had some nice wheels!!! The hostess of the group and her husband own a small business of spinning supplies and handdyed rovings and such. They even have a Golding wheel!!!!! I didn't get to see it this trip, but next time they are going to give me a tour of the house so I can see all that they have. I plan on swinging in this weekend to buy some rovings, and may help them fire up the dye pots. When I was talking about my book quest they invited me to come help! I still need to email her about it. After I got home from that I had a slight headache, that quickly turned into a migraine. So I went to bed.

Monday I woke up and it still hurt some, so I called in late to work. Nothing else really happened Monday that I remember.

Tuesday I got some packages! My Mielke's Order came.

And I got my Gifty Swap! My swap partner was Samantha over at Plump Pudding, http://plump-pudding.typepad.com/ She sews and sent me some great sewn stuff.

She sent a needle/hookcase (shown rolled up) a sewing needle case, the brown/white/pink/gray thing opens to flannel pages for my needles, a tape measure, and the thing with yellow trim in a klennex holder, it holds those small things of kleneex.

A Knitting Needles/Crochet hook case

A nifty tape measure!

And while i totally love that stuff I'm just so thrilled with her for fining my favorite candy! She lives in Wales, and I am just in love with a lolly they have over there. She contacted me to see if she could get anything for me and I said those! I used to have a penpal/swapper friend in Wales and she would send me candy, she sent me these and Ijust love them! I've been craving them, and dreaming of them, but didn't have a way to get any. So I was just thrilled then Samantha got me some, and apparently it wasn't easy. She said the package was delayed while she found some. They're called drumsticks and they are chewy instead of hard. They are creamy flavors, she sent Raspberry n Cream. They are just the best candy I've ever had. I have the worst sweet tooth. I've never left the east coast, but have had candy from 8 countries!

SO thanks Samantha!!!!! I love it all!!!

On another note, Samantha has two of the cutest boys! You should check out her blog to read about them, and read about her too of course! She sells her handsewn stuff, I'm not sure if she regularly sells to the US or not, but she has great stuff!

Now for the rest of my week. Weds nothing happened that I remember. I had another migraine and mostly rested all night.

Thursday was pretty boring also. BUT I found the funniest cutest candy! Check this out! This is a whopping big candy too, bigger then a Quarter Pounder real burger! Not heavy cause it's marshmallow, but big! It just so much like a burger to. The powder sugar on the buns look like the flour does on real buns. Then they made icing sesame seeds. It's really neat. Really Big in calories too! 412 calories! 97 carbs! 8 points!!! I figure I will cut it in fourths, then each fourth is only 2 points, not to bad.

I plan on taking some to my parents if/when I visit.

I also bought two cross stitch kits yesterday, I've had the urge to cross stitch, I know it will only get worse, so I figured I better buy soemthing now, buy a cheap one or two kits, before the urge is so bad I just buy the first kit I love and pay a fortune for it. I got home and was about to start one when I realized I dont' have a hoop! So I'm going to buy one at work tonight.

I also bought a "Hexagon Lap Loom" it's the plastic thing that you weave small shapes with. The finished product has like a flower pattern to it. I have some ideas for stuff to sell using it. It's kinda hard to explain. I'll upload a few pictures later or tomorrow or something.

And that's pretty much my week! Now you're all caught up, so I'll end this post, finally!

UGH!!!! SO FURIOUS!!!!

2006-02-20T19:41:00.000-05:00

I just had a big, amazingly long, yet still unfinished blog post, and then POW it disappeared!!! I somehow hit the magical mystery key that only cats walking across the keyboard can find that deleted the whole thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not just cut it and can easily paste it. It is GONE. Gone away for good.

I'm not retyping that whole thing. I'll just update tomorrow.

Guess what???

2006-02-13T19:50:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day. Work went by quickly. And then I came home to a package!!!!! Any day with a package is a great day!

Here's what I got:
All from my secret pal! The stuff is just great!!! The box said Indianapolis. I dunno if i believe it, but time will tell.

She sent me a felted bag!!!! Which looks amazing!!!!

Some yarn, wool, I forget what kind she said Noro maybe?, but she says it felts beautifully. in a beautiful blue.

A Sanrio Hello Kitty wind-up toy. It's a little teapot ride, with sanrio characters in the cups. The cups spin, and the whole thing spins. It's pretty nifty!

Also three types of Hello Kitty candy. One of which I just love for the sole purpose that it says "For sale in Japan only" which just makes it special to me. These candies are only a point or two a piece (for Weight Watchers) so I plan on them being a treat that is worked in whenever I can spare the points.

She also sent some Candy Heart Truffles!! Truffles are a serious fav of mine!!! They are 5 points though, SO I plan on using them as a reward if I keep to my points all week.

Thanks Pal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also just placed a rather large order. Where? At Mielkes! I order several pounds of natural roving, and some dye kits! Each kit dyes about 8 lbs so I ordered two kits, to make sure i have enough. I think I ordered about 5 lbs of roving, plus i have 6 lbs of wool here, plus other roving, so.... I also finally ordered a Niddy Noddy. I plan on buying the skeinwinder for my wheel, but that might be awhile so... I also ordered some stuff I can't mention cause it's secret!

I was going to buy 15 balls of handyed roving on ebay, for $10 a pop!!!, but realized I can get more poundage for less money if I just buy the roving and the dye. And have more fun doing it!!!

I plan on using quite a bit of it myself, but want to also sell some, maybe on etsy? I can hardly wait though.

Oh wait! I didn't explain where this money came from!! I decided to put my loom off a few months. I mean, why make shawls, when Spring is almost here?? The craft show in April is to late for shawl sales. So I plan on buying it in July or so, for stuff for the September show. Sounds a little more shawl like doesn't it? Plus I spent $350 on my wheel, and don't use it nearly as much as I should. I decided I should get more of my $350 out of that, before buying something even more expensive. I don't even have all the accessories for my wheel yet, why buy a whole new something?? I haven't given up the idea of my tri-loom. I still really want it. I really really want it. But this definently seemed like a better idea. I mean why spend my Springtime (and money) on shawls that won't sell until Fall?? One person pointed out that I already had some loom money, I shoudl just keep saving and go for it while I've already started, but I don't even have half. I don't even have a third! After the crazy electric bill, and my hospital bill, I wouldn't be able to get my loom for quite a while anyway! I just plan on saving about $100 a month for my loom, instead of every single dime for the next month.

I also realized that I didn't have enough of any yarn for my loom. I mean I have yarn! Lots of yarn. But not enough of one type/style/color/etc etc to make an actual woven shawl. I would have saved every dime, gotten my loom, and not be able to use it! I would have to wait to go buy more yarn! SO I also plan on buying some yarns for it.

Really I just need to start buying more at a time anyway. I only buy 1 skein. 1 skein of this, 1 skein of that, because I usually make hats and such that only need pne. But now i want to do more. A hat and matching bag. A sweater. A solid shawl instead of a holey lacey one. I'm thinking of buying 10 at a time from now on. Same kind, same color. Ever heard of the yarn club? They sell stuff by the bag at a slight discount. I'd have to calculate if the discount is better then work but it's a thought.

I also worked on my studio some. It's really, really, totally trashed. You can hardly even sit anywhere! I need to make space for a table (for dyeing and large felting scarfs and such) and for my floor loom! And I really would like to have a nice organized place. I want to try to fit a couch in there, but I don't thinkI'll be able to. I think a couch might be a stretch. I've taken a new approace I should have taken long ago. If I don't REALLY want it- toss it. 3 trashbags left yesterday. The problem is that I start out really well, the first bag is full in no time, then as I am in there longer, I start to become more selective, and less and less seems to go into bags. So I'm limiting my time in there. "I'll spend 30 minutes." " I'm not leaving till I have 2 bags of garbage." Hopefully before I die it'll be clean. I'm hoping the end of the month.

I think I've blabbered enough. Bye for the night! Thanks again SP!!

Pictures

2006-02-12T12:49:00.000-05:00

I'm going to post a few pictures, and describe each one with two words or less. Ready?

Front Yard

Back yard

Handcarding Fool!

I am so broke.

2006-02-11T17:54:00.000-05:00

So we headed to the post office today because I had a huge stack of packages to mail. Penpal stuff, swap stuff, etc etc. And You would't believe how much it cost me.
Go Ahead try to guess.

$44!!!!!!!!!!

One package to Belgueim (which I just totally spelled wrong) cost me more the mail then the price I paid for it's contents!!

I think in the future swaps might be a rareity. That $44 is on top of the over well over $100 that I spent for the actual contents.

So I'm thinking maybe I'll do every other SP or something. I Dunno, it's just that that is a lot of money!! Mailign them one at a time felt different. It would be $8 here $6 there, but $44 at once really makes me realize how much I'm spending on these things!

On another note I got a few packages myself today:

Package #1- I'm offically a Weight Watchers. I can't remember if I talked about this already or not. But I ordered the basic stuff (on eBay) to do weight watchers. I'm not going to do meetings to anything, just do it myself at home. The kit came today and I think this might be hard. I'm allowed 22 points a day. My favorite chinese meal= 13 points for a small portion, I don't tend to eat a small portion.

Package #2- More windows for my mini Harry Potter book. My old sticker windows got damaged, and the teacher sent me some new ones.

Then the topper

Package #3, A gift sent on behalf of my Fiber Godmother! Good Ol Mel (from http://crazycatladymel.livejournal.com/ ) sent some of her handmade stitch markers. With a note : A gift from your Secret Pal, It isn't me Really. Here's the set i got:

Now being a beginner knitter I just have to learn why (and how) to use stitch markers.

These are GREAT!!!! Thanks Godmother!!!!!!

There was also a small pin that says "Knit in Public"

Now that I've actually seen stitch markers maybe I could make some in the future!

I'm also curious how my godmother knew of my unspoken love of monkeys!!

So in other words, it was a great mail day!!! And the packages made me temporarily frget about my serious brokeness.

Just a Little Catch up & A package!

2006-02-10T13:03:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in awhile. Why? I was sick as a dog! Saturday my throat hurt, and I figured I was just having throat/tonsil problems again (it happens to me A LOT) but by Sunday I was SICK. Real Sick. I could hardly get out of bed. Monday I called in sick. Tuesday I managed to get up, and go to work. But know what happened? I was only there 1 hour before I was so sick I had to go back home! So no pay Monday or Tuesday, this check is going to suck. It doesn't affect my loom to much though. I should still be able to order it the end of this month. So Tuesday I felt better by that afternoon, and my period started, and I got sick from that. I guess last months not getting sick was a 1 time thing. But now I am 100% better. I've just had to spend the last few days catching up!

So now for the package. Today I got the mail expecting my Weight Watchers stuff to come any day now, and found another package. A Package from Bethieee! Bethieee was my spoilee for SP6. And she sent me a little thank you package. It was so great!!! Here's what it contained:

2 beautiful handknit washclothes in my favorite color.

a baggie full of handdyed roving. It looks solid in teh picture, but it's actually a blue and green mix. very pretty!!!!

a few slivers of super nice soap

a gold leaf pendant

a small heart shaped box that says "Cutie" and is filled with v-day theme jelly bellies

a tube of Crabtree & Evelyn Hand Therapy. Which couldn't have come at a better time. I'm allergic to somethign at work, and it gives me a dry scaly rash, after I can stop the rash part it takes a lot of good lotion to make my hands not gross anymore. whatever it is that I'm allergic too I came in contact with recently, and I am at the stage where i need good lotion.

AND:

A large assortment of candy! Most of which is already gone. I didn't eat all of it, I shared a few pieces with my buddy at work.

Thanks Bethieee!!!

Okay so I didn't

2006-02-04T10:28:00.000-05:00

play hookie. I went to work. I actually had an ok time, which hasn't happened yet working at night. I found out my boss likes me. He's not like in love with me (which has happened to me before with a boss) but he likes being my manager, likes working with me, likes the way I do my job, likes chatting with me, and doesn't want me to move to a different department and therefore leave him. I think I won't ask to move to the other department I like, because in actually I think I would hate my new boss, he tends to be a serious jerk, and I do all in all like my manager.

My Mom is buggin me for pictures of my shrug, so I'll have Nick finally take pictures today. I also need to run an take a picture of the slipper sock I made for him, hold on I'm going to run and do it now!! So I ran and took a picture of the sock. I think it turned out pretty well. My husband has some big ol feet. He wears a 13 or 14 shoe depending on the style. And I dunno if it's just me or what, but handmade socks seem to look gigantic. So this thing is HUGE!

Here is is flat.

This is how it fits, this is just for reference because that is my big ol foot in there, not his.

And here's a total size reference. And YES that is my arm, and for those that don't know I have amazingly long "monkey" arms, it's kind of amazing that they don't look to long on my body. They definently don't drag the ground when I walk. UNless that is why my knuckles always have mystery cuts??

By the way notice my bracelets? They are fibers I've spun! I tie them on as a little walking fiber gallery. Then when I talk to people about spinning I just hold out my arm "Oh see I made these..."

I didn' notice it until this picture, but I have a weird spot on my arm. Notice the reddish part around that one mole. Well in real life it isn't red, but the skin is different then the rest. It's probably a scrape, but I'll put some lotion on it to make sure it isn't just dry.

And yes that slipper sock goes all the way from my elbow to past my wrist!!!

NOW for a little game, and a test to see who actually reads this blog. Try to guess what method made this sock? Knitting? Crochet? something else??? Maybe I'll give a prize or something to the first person that guesses correctly.

Now about the sock. The sock is made with a vintage acrylic yarn, it has an actualy worked shaped heel, and a cuff at the top (which will be getting and elastic band.) It's just gathered at the toe end.

In other news, I'm going to do Weight Watchers. I ordered a complete kit thing on ebay, and instead of paying a ton to attend meetings and all that I'm just going to do it myself. Well not myself because my good friend from work is going to do it with me. And another friend might also. We're going to all Weight Watch together, aand work out together a few times a week. My goal is to lose 30 lbs. To the untrained eye, I look good and don't appear overweight. BUT in all seriousness I am. I am almost 10 lbs over the healthy weight for my height. Since I am 5'8" with very large hips, I do conceal my large amount of fat well. BUT I know it's there and I'm not happy. So I'm going to do something about it. I don't feel that anyone should be unhappy with their body, and if they can do something they should, so I am.

Oh and here's a funny thing you might not see very often.

I created this totem which I call "Ode to the Postman"

No really this is three cases of plastic shoebox containers! 72 total. Why? Because they only cost me 6 bucks a case!!!! I bought these a couple weeks ago and they were just in the back of my car all this time. Nick took my car to work today, which I allow him to do because he will fill the tank while he's out, and when I woke up we had brought these all in for me. Everyone was asking me what I was going to do with them. One case is for my Mom. But the other two....

Well here's a brainstorm list:

48 Uses for Plastic Shoeboxes
1. paintbrushes
2.stickers
3. wood scrap for miniatures
4. miniature doo-dads
5. miniature findings
6. paints/stains for miniatures
7.circular knitting needles
8. knitting/crochet doodads (like stitch markers, yarn needles, etc)
9.letters from penpals
10.double point Knitting needles
11.rubberstamps for cards/letters/etc
12.lace bits and bobs
13. sewing thread
14. tiny skeins of handspun
15. small fiber (like silk, camel, etc)
16. dyes
17.scraps of colored wool
18. bead stuff
19. precut atc
20.atc doodads
21.jewelry
22.pictures
23. scissors
24.blank notecards
25. smalls scrap balls of yarn
26.pens
27.markers
28.pencils
29. tape measures
30.tools
31.drill bits
32.dremel stuff
33. largeish paper scraps
34. crochet hooks
35.books to alter
36. incense
37. small candles (though I have so many it would take alot of containers)
38. cds to alter
39.postcards to use
40. embossing powders
41.meltart stuff
42.pearlex
43. wet felting stuff
44.needle felting stuff
45.naalbinding stuff when I get it
46. weaving shuttles and such
47. mr potato head parts
48. those "free take one" patterns and pamphlets (though this would defienently take more then one box.)

I could keep going, but I do only have 48 boxes. I said I could find used for them all!!

And with that I close this post. But later I'll post pictures of my shrug.

I think I just might play Hookie!

2006-02-03T12:39:00.000-05:00

Why you ask??? Well there are a ton of reasons:

1) It is such a beautifulllllllllllllllllllllll day. I have the heat off, the windows open, a neighbor is going laundry and I can smell it (laundry is one of my favorite scents) and it's just glorious.

2) The only time I see the light of day is the weekends, friday during the day, and on my drive to work Monday-Thursday. It's always dark when I leave work. Or getting dark. I feel like if this keeps up I might get riccicks!

3) I've never played hookie a day in my life. Yes never. Not once in highschool, not at any other job, never. Every single time I ever called in sick I was honestly sick.

4) I've just had the toughest couple of weeks.

But I really shouldn't. Why? Well for that there is only one reason.
1) My loom. I am more then halfway to my total needed. And I am supposed to be getting a check in the mail then would cover the rest! BUT what if the check never comes, then I will need the money from work to get my loom. If the check never comes in the mail, and I miss work today I'll put off getting my loom about 2 weeks. Make that 3 weeks.

Ohhhhh what to do what to do. The weather says tomorrow will be rainy and sucky, so I can't just enjoy a beautiful day tomorrow. It's today or who knows when.

I guess it's time to decide, because if I'm going I need to go get dressed.

i forgot something

2006-02-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

Since i have every intention of going straight to bed when I get home from work I need to tell you everything now.

My spinning wheel is acting up again. i THINK that I might need a new bandy piece. But I'm not going to stop there. I'm really loving this whole saving to buy something big and nice instead of my usual crap thing. SO after my loom I am going to save to shell out $300 and get a high speed kit, a drive band, a skienwinder, and something else I can't remember. Maybe I'll shell out evern more and actually buy a few bobbins. Because I only have two, and two feels very limiting.

I'll be getting the:
Louet High Speed Spinning SetIncludes a high speed flyer, drive belt and three Fat-core bobbins. This is suited for someone who wants to get all the accessories required to begin fine spinning...$187.00

Skeinwinder - Fits S10 - S51...$130.00

and i have to find out if the drive band in the kit is the same thing as the regular band or if I need to buy another one too. And i might buy some bobbins, and from Mielkes.

I wonder if I could get the other spinner at work to check out my wheel for me??? She's been spinning for years, and me only a few months, so maybe she'll be able to tell me why it suddenly does this??

Oops, gotta go, time to finish up and leave for work.

I am sooooooooooo

2006-02-01T07:53:00.000-05:00

sleepy.

I am just exhausted.

Last night I was talking to my Mom and towards the end of our conversation it went something like this:

her- What is that noise?
me- oh, i was snoring.
her- but you aren't asleep, why are you snoring?
me- oh, wasn't i asleep?

then I went to bed, at like 9. and slept. until 7:30, and am now slowly preparing to go to work, because i have got to get that loom.

i think i might just sleep on my lunchbreak. who really needs to eat anyway?

Oh an on a completely different topic, I just ordered my very first item off of etsy. I bought the coolest blue roving for 10.50. I am saving every cent for my loom, but I just couldn't bare the idea of not getting this. I would totally kick myself if I didn't order it.

One more thing

2006-01-30T18:35:00.000-05:00

This should crack you up,

I am currently wearing a butterfly closure on my finger and not just for fun. Why????

Because yesterday at the party I accidentally got a little overzealous with the kids scissors I was using the cut curling ribbon on the balloons!!!!! KIDS SCISSORS!!!!!

It isn't bleeding, but it's insanely deep, and gross. Just one deep straight down cut. Ugh!!!

I've got a lovely coconut, sorry but it isn't a bunch

2006-01-30T18:18:00.000-05:00

Today I got a package in the mail from my Fiber Godmother. The note enclosed told me it was fiber, and multiple kinds, but that she didn't expect it to look like a hairy coconut! So I pulled off the tissue paper covering and saw it! Now usually I am not a big cocnut fan, but this one, I think I'll keep it. In fact I frickin love it!!!

Notice the cocnut like appearance?

Here's another picture to show the color better.

And just listen to the fiber content on this baby!
baby CAMEL
Cashmere
RACCOON
Silk
Bunny
Lambs wool
&
Mohair

Oh an everything is going perfect to order my triloom by the 10th!

Just 3 Things

2006-01-29T11:48:00.000-05:00

1) I am nervous as H%^^ about this Birthday Party Today. I have to get dressed be there around 1. BUT The money (among other money I've been working hard and extra time for) goes towards my tri-loom which I should be able to order Before Feb 17th!!!

2) The branching out scarf is coming along, BUT I think I might frog it. Even when I stretch it (like it will be after blocking) the design doesn't show they well. You can see there is something, but you can't really see details, and it isn't nearly as lacey as it should be. Anyone who made this scarf have an encouraging info?

3) My house suddenly smells like dog poo so bad I can hardly stand it, but I have looked EVERYWHERE and cannot find it. I have incense and 3 candles burning, and it still just reeks! Th dog doesn't seem to have any on her, she's sitting like two feet away and hasn't burped or farted that I've noticed, and I can't find a pile or so much as a quarter sized dollop. UGHHHHH!!!!!! It's driving me crazy. And exactly what am I supposed to do if I can't even find it???

Suddenly I realized I can't remember if I actually posted about the formentioned b-day party on my blog yet. So if I haven't I'll do it later.

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

2006-01-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

I had the worst day yesterday. A migraine from 11 am to ohhhhh 4 am today. Annoying customers coming out the wahzoo. And when I looked at the mail they are trying to screw us with our electric/gas bill. Supposedly the average tempature was 40, according the weather service which they said is where they get their info it was 46, and that is why we used more gas for the heater. She tried to explain, and what a dumb woman she was, that with the tempature lower this monththen last month, last month's average was 36 the lower of the two, that when our heat was on it took more gas to heat it to the right tempature. Which makes sense, I know that factually that is what happens. But how exactly does she explain that with a higher average tempature last month, two weeks of weather so warm the heat wasn't even turned on, and the heat rarely coming on for the other two, with a higher average tempature that we used more gas. Every explaination she had was butt backwards, using her lack of math ability to say this month's average was lower, or saying well maybe we got a new tv or something that used mroe energy, the problem was with the gas and last I checked tvs don't run on gas! And we didn't get anything new last month, anything that uses electricity or gas anyway. So anyway they are "investigating" our bill. I refuse to pay it. I will not pay $285 and some change for a month when we barely watched tv and the heat was off for 2 weeks!!

In work/money related news: I think everyone who reads this knows I work at AC Moore, a craft store similair (but better is so many ways) to Michaels. We have classes. Well a week or so ago I decided I want a little extra money coming in, and maybe would cave and teach classes like the classroom coordinator has asked me to. So I grab the calendars. What do I know that isn't being taught? I pondered, I read day by day the schedule for two months. And I noticed.... In Febuary there were no beading classes. So I went to the classroom and asked why. Turns out the teacher was a flake at actually scheduling classes, and the fact that she's only been beading for a year (something i know for a fact because she told me, and something the classroom corrdinator was suspectious of) we decided I might be better for the job. So I took in a big bucket of samples. And I spent the whole morning nervous. Everyone that heard I had samples in the classroom ran to look, and all morning I was hearing "Your stuff is so awesome/great/amazing/... My favorite is..." But I never have confidence in myself and my stuff, so I felt like it sucked, surely I could have done better, I know she won't want me to teach.... So she calls me in, I walk as slowly as possible, and prepare myself. Last time I attempted to teach a class in an actual store (I used to teach online classes all the time) I was so depressed afterwards, because well the lady was an idiot. So I went to the classroom and she loved it all. We talked for a minute about classes. I thought she wanted me to teach not THE beading/Jewelry class, but more like a come this day and make this project kind of thing. So I picked a few pieces I'd like to teach. Then I was talking to her the other day about what I need to teach, and I said "I know you don't want me to teach basic beading becuase you have the other lady..." and she says "Oh she doesn't teach anymore, you're the new teacher." Let me just say :0 WHAT!!??!?!? When was she planning on telling me?!?!? So ot I have to make some samples, create a slyabus, and pick two days to do them, in teh month of March by Feb 1. I'm going to do two a month 1 Basic Beading and Jewelry Making where I'll teach the basic stuff and 2 intermediate beading, where we'll complete a harder project.

I'll also be making a little extra money this weekend. We have a free "Yarn Event" Tomorrow at work, which I get overtime from 11-3 by demoing the knifty knitter. If you live near an AC Moore, you should call them and see if they are having one (they should be) and try to check it out. There will be demos of all sorts of things (they vary by store) and knitting/crochet lessons and Q&A, giveaways, 25% of all yarn and yarn doodads etc etc. Sunday I am working about 2.5 hours to do a birthday party. And easy $40!

Now in yarn/fiber news:
I started the Branching Out lace scarf. I know I already have one (thanks Tracey!) but it is the only lace project that I found that says it's easy for a beginner and I actually like the pattern. So far it's going okay. I'm only on the second pattern repeat (it says I should be able to get 27) and I've had to frog a row here and there and do it over, but it's coming along rather nicely. Knitting lace is definently more fun (and addicting) then a regular old scraf. I can't wait to sit down and work on my knit scarf. Since looking for mroe lace patterns I have discovered that I like the one with a more patterned (for example branches/leaves/etc) then the ones that are just lacey with holes or diamonds in them. Know what I mean?

Also between Feb 10th, and The end of April (whatever that exact date is) I'm not going to buy any yarn for myself. I buy yarn for my fiber goddaughter and my sp7, but not for myself. Yarn doodads are allowed, but no yarn! So I'll use up my stash more. But I can say that I will DEFINENTLY be placing a knitpicks order before 2/10! I've been wanting to work with alpaca, and also make a wool felted something, don't know what yet, so I'm buying some from there. But My SP7 or Fiber Godmother, if you're reading this it isn't against the rules for you to send me yarn! *wink wink* (laughing) See I want to try more yarn snob like yarns, but can't see to justify spending the money when I have so much yarn already. And it's just so easy for me to go to work adn buy some Lion Brand or something, and go home with yarn that day, then to order it and have to wait. I'm hoping this slight break will show me that it isn't about Quantity (okay so it is a little bit, or a lot) but that it's about Quality (which I don't just have any cheap crap yarn anyway)

I do think that that is all the updating I can do. I've been trying to post for a few days but blogger wasn't working right for me.

Hats

2006-01-23T22:13:00.000-05:00

In the last two days I have made two hats! I started yesterday to make an earflap style hat, because I REALLY want one. So I started, picked some vintage yarn in great blue colors, and crocheted the night away. Then I looked, it was WAY to small. I guess my guage was off, I never check, and it was kid sized! I finished it anyway. Here's a pic:

It is for sale/trade/barter on the Odd Little Duck page, the link is to the right.

So after that fluke I tried again tonight. I pulled out the wooden hook my fiber godmother sent me, a size L instead of the size J called for, and crocheted all evening. This one fits, is perfect, and I just LOVEEEEEEE it! I think I might make some more. Here's my hat:

They look a lot alike. But really they aren't. Though they have the same yarns, mine uses different width rows of color, has less total stripes, a different trim color, and is well ... bigger.

I still have other projects to upload pictures of. My 4 baby hats, and my amazing shrug. I need help getting a shrug picture. We'll try for that tomorrow night. Now I must depart, to stamp some mail, go to bed, and sleep.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

2006-01-21T12:18:00.000-05:00

Well I just resubed to Spin Off. I was downstairs cleanign and found the card that said my subscription was finished. So I raced upstairs to get it back! I would have just posted then it was done and see if my SP7 spoiler would suprise me, but I thought that would not only be a little wrong, but also I might miss an issue! While I was at it I subscribed to a year of Handwoven too.

I'm having fun with the spoiling of my SP7 and Fiber Goddaughter. I don't know if I am going to do SP8. It seems like whoever I get doesn't seem to update their clog as much as I would like, or I just don't feel a nice bond with them. Know what I mean? My SP6 was ok, she updated a few times a month or so, but never felt like I really got to know her. Then I sorta feel like the same thing is happening with this one. My goddaugther on the other hand... well I feel like i just know her so well. It doesn't hurt that we are very much alike! My spoiler for SP6 was just amazing, and SP7 looks like it might be the same. So It seems that I get spoiled, but my spoilee is a little questionable.

I had something else to talk about, but I now can't remember what it was. Anyway I posted. Maybe I'll post more later.

Oh way here's a few funny quotes for this week (said by me of course)

"Oh Square candles are my favorite!!!"
"I might be a geek, and a dork, but I'm no fricken nerd!!"

Wait!!!! Stop the pressses!!!!

2006-01-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

I di hear from ym SP7!!!! Oh I'm sooooo sorry SP. I thought I had heard from you, then couldn't find an email or anything. Turns out the E-card IS in my inbox, I was just looking for it wrong! I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo soorrrrrryyyyyyyy!!!

Everyone my SP7 is NOT a flake, I just can't keep anything organized to save my life!!

So Muchhhhhhhh to sayyyyyyyy

2006-01-18T18:19:00.000-05:00

So much needs to be said. But to make it quick here's a list of 10 in no pattern or order what so ever:

1) I made the coolest shrug using the Knifty Knitter loom set I finally got. I wore it to work, and felt so crowded all night from all the people "awwing" and it that I seriously considered just taking it off so they would leave me alone. I was even drug by the arm for my boss to show the classroom coordinator (aka the one that makes all the samples, displays, etc for the whole store)

2) We have a yarn event coming up at work and since I "am the only hope" of the coordinator she asked if I can try to use the Ultimate Sweater Machine at the event. If I can't work it, or for whatever reason it doesn't work out, then I'm demoing my shrug on the Knifty Knitter.

3) I recently got the required card from my Fiber Godmother, Soooooooooooooooo sorry I didn't acknowledge it sooner. It was a FAB card with a handdyed origami paper on the cover, which is just gorgeous. And the HOOK was a fab wooden (bamboo maybe?) Crochet hook enclosed to "hook me in" I dunno who my "Godmother" is, but apparently she's Punny!!! lol

4) I've had "Hope Your Better" Emails. So for those that aren't totally updated I am 100% better from my ER trip. The DR said there may be a few "weird" things as my body completes this cycle, but so far it's only been like a slight discomfort here and there. But, and this is amazing news, this month at that "time" I didn't get sick. AT ALL! For those that don't know, and most of you reading I'm sure don't, since the age of 16 I have gotten VERY sick every month. I mean pass out (among several other times, at Luray Caverns on Vacation even!!,) throw up, wish I was dead, sick. You'd have to see me to believe how bad it is. Or WAS!!??? Maybe???

5) The kit for the mini class I am taking came. The finished project will be the size of my hand. Literally the book is the size of my hand! Don't know what I'm talking about? I signed up for a class at Miniature-U for the next three months to make a TINY 1/4" scale Harry Potter based book. You can see it here: http://www.miniature-u.com/classschedule.htm It's the "A Wizard's Story Trilogy"

6) I still haven't heard from my SP7? Maybe an e-card got lost somewhere? Pal if you're reading this could you drop me a line to let me know I have a pal, that you aren't a flake, and ... I'm sure a note just got lost somewhere.

7) I'm going to sonn undertake a projec for Nick. Every year that we've been together I make some sort of project to say how much I love him. A collage, an altered book, a mini handmade book with decorated pages, anyway it's always something. Tomorrow at work I'm picking up the items for this years project. Who know how long it will take. Wanna know what it is? I can't say. What if he were to read this and see???? You'll just have to wait!

8) Hopefully I'll be getting my Tri-Loom next month. Everything should be in order for me to get it.

9) I have made 4 baby hats already! It would be more, but lately I just don't feel like doing much of anything. Pictures of them and my awesome shrug soon to come.

10) I'm about to head downstairs to spin until bed. I'll haev to read my blog tomorrow, see what has and hasn't been said, and try to updatesome more if need be.

This, That, & SP7 questions

2006-01-11T18:03:00.000-05:00

Recently I decided to share the fiber wealth and make stuff for charity. Me being the sucker for kids I am I decided to make baby hats/booties/blankets for preemies, and children who are sick or just poor. So I've been making a few hats.

A few weeks ago I decided I HAD to have the Knifty Knitter Loom set. And I was going to buy it at work the next day, and then we were sold out. So I waited, and waited, and waited. Over 2 weeks I waited. Then finally yesterday it came in!!! Just in time I might add to make more baby hats! I just have to have EVERYTHING that has to do with yarn and fiber!

Have I talked about my soon to be weaving loom yet? Well my Aunt, who has a loom I've been wanting to buy (we're talking a full size, 8 shaft, floor loom here) has decided that instead of selling it to me, she will loan it to me for an extended period. That way if she ever has the time to use it, she can get it back instead of having to buy another. I think it's a GREAT idea. BEcause a) she's always super busy and it'll probably be ages before she wants it back (if ever) b)I might decide to upgrade and get a new one before that day may come c) I may have picked a new hobby by then, or decided I don't like weaving. So I should be getting that. I'm also saving to buy a tri-loom next month. The one I'm going to get is 7' adjustable down to 3.5' So I can make lots of sizes. It's be super!!!!

And for some reason unknown (or not understood anyway) even to me I am serious thinking about buying a knitting machine! The "Ultimate Sweater Machine" I dunno why. But like I said I simpyl must have everything that involves yarn and fiber!

Saturday an interesting message was on the machine when I woke up. Interesting you ask? Yes! A friend I haven't seen or spoken to for about 2 years called! Wanted to get in touch, be buds again, etc etc. So I called back and so far it's going fab!

Now without futher addo the SP7 questions, so I can finish this post and go make dinner.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? I LOVE Lion Brand, but I rarely ever use Red Heart. I love novelty yarns. I would love to try different yarns, I'm just kinda cheap, so I always buy the cheaper stuff instead of fancy stuff. I'd love to try some of the higher end stuff on the market. Don't get me wrong I don't just use $2 skein stuff, but I just haven't tried the higher end stuff like Goddess, Cashmere of any kind, Silk, etc etc.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? I Do spin(on spindles and my wheel,) I also crochet. While I do knit, knitting to me is very very secondary. I crochet first, knit last. Knitting to me isn't a big thing.

3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? Umm well they are everywhere so.... I keep my hooks in both a fancy holder, well not super fancy it's a plastic thing that came with my nice set) and also in a tall MnMs tube, and some extra in a ziploc. My needles are in jars because I do have a super nice holder (provided by my lovely SP6) but I just haven't gotten around to putting stuff in it yet.

4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Okay. So I crochet, have known how for almost 10 years, but only actively doing it for almost a year. I'd say I'm about an advanced intermediate in crochet. In Spinning, I've been doing it about 6 months or so, I'm still a beginner, but my yarn does look good. Knitting, I've known how as far back as I can remember, but since I'm not a big fan and I hardly ever do it I'm only a beginner.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I do have an amazon wishlist. I dunno the link, but I think it comes up if my name is searched.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) Clean Linen, anything berry, frankincense, patchouli, mrryh, and more just nothing spicy.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Oh yeah. favorite? All of it!

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Everything. I sew, make candles, make soaps, weave on a kiddie loom, collage a little, scrapbook, rubberstamp, and so much mroe. i really do everything.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I like 60s & 70s music, like janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Terry Jacks, and disco. I also love cool girl music like Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Sarah Mcgluchlin (yeah I know i can't spell) Avril Lavigne, etc etc. And I like weird stuff, like polka. And yeah I think it plays MP3s.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? I LOVE blue all shades, it's my ultimate fav. I also love green though, all shades of that too. I like browns, black, reds/oranges. I do HATE purple, and can hardly stand pink.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Married no kids yet. Two cats and a dog.

12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Scarves, oh yeah. I own several dozen. I tend to dress like a gyspy so scarves are my friend. Hats yeah. Mittens, no but gloves yes. And Ponchos- YES! I wore them even beofre they were "cool" again!

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? Umm I like alot. I love Lion brand Homespun, The cotton stuff, I used some Katia once, that was pretty nice, So far everythign I've tried from Knitpicks is great. I am in love with Alpaca cloud. I haven't tried as many styles as I would like.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I'm not a big fan of fun fur, but I still own it. I don't like the Red Heart Classic, cause it's scratchy.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Knitting Obession? Don't have one. In fact it really bugs me that all this questions are so knitting centered when this swap is for all! Crochet obsession? probably scarves. I've also been makign baby hats.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? To crochet you mean? Everything! But I only make wearble type stuff, no home decor or anything.

17. What are you knitting right now? Crocheting!!!!!!!!! This knitting thing is really buggin me! I am crocheting so many different projects it really isn't funny!

18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? YEs!

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Straight.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? All of thee above.

21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? I own a ball winder, but not a swift. I tend to use a variety of chairs lol.

22. How did you learn to knit? Don't remember. To CROCHET my Mom taught me.

23. How old is your oldest UFO? A few months.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? I love the Simpsons, Family Guy, Sanrio Stuff, and others. I love cats, dogs, dolphins, sheep, and more.

25. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween.

26. Is there anything that you collect? Oh yeah. Mr Potato Head (and mrs, and Kids, and anything else Potato) Goddesses a little, fairies a little, old cool trinket boxes and jewelry boxes, weird stuff, novelties (anything that isn't the size it's supposed to be) 60's/70's stuff and more.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? CROCHET!!!!!!!!!! CROCHET magazines!!!!!!!!! None.

28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?There are so many yarns I want to try, there are also a ton of patterns.

29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Not really.

30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Sock knitter no! But I've corhceted a few. Foot size? Big! I'll post actual measurements later.

31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) 7/30

Yarn.... What else?

2006-01-05T19:54:00.000-05:00

Tonight I carded some of the wool I dyed before. Don't remember it? Well here's a peek again:

So I carded it. I don't think I am as good at carding as I could be, but what I currently seem to make spins into a great nubby bumpy type of yarn. I did spin a tiny handful of plain wool yesterday, and I love it, but I forgot to take a picture. But I promise it's coming.

So anyway here's the two rolags/batts I made:

Which reminds me I want to come up with another name to call my rolags/batts. I dunno what, something fun, funky, funny?, and artsy sounding.

Wondering what I plan to do with them? Well I plan to spin them into thick singles, then knit them into a basic ribbed cuff style wristband. For whom? The person I drew as a secret santa at work. We are having our holiday party this Sunday( I dunno if I'm going or not) because we had Inventory in Dec, plus work in retail, so we decided to wait until everyone would be less stressed to have the party. So anyway I gotta go spin that wool, and then knit it, and hopefully finish before noon tomorrow. (So I can take it to work and leave it for my person incase I don't go Sunday they have it to open at the party) I just hope these two rolags make enough yarn. I'm always horrible at guesstimating the amount of wool/roving/yarn I need for a project.

Avatar Wars

2006-01-05T06:50:00.000-05:00

Pretty Ugly??? Yeah it could probably be uglier but it's the worst I could do! Wanna know why I would create this ugly avatar? Check it out here:

http://knottygirls.com/jenlablog/index.php?p=473

The Worst Lunch EVER!

2006-01-04T19:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I haven't posted much since Sunday. Wanna guess why? Apparently while in the Er I picked up a horribbbbbllllleeeeee cold from somebody! I knot it must have been from there because I started feeling sick exactly three days later! (For those that don't know it takes 3 days for most viruses to incubate, and actually show syptoms) and if I had just gotten it from work I would have been sick sooner. So Since Sunday I've been doing nothing but working and sleeping. Isn't that starting to sound like that is just my life and not a irregular thing? I'm feeling slightly better now. I still have a fever, and a sore throat, and the worst congestion and runny nose, and I'm a little naseus, and, ahhh whom I kidding I don't feel any better! So anyway I have a funny story that just has to be told.

Last night despite feeling like crap I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to our favorite chinese place. We have a chinese place across the street, one down the street not even 1/2 a mile, plus countless others in shopping centers less then 10 minutes from our house. BUT we can't go to any of those. We drive atleast 20 minutes to a nearby mall, to eat at the one in the mall, because, well, it's the best! So yesterday we went there. We ordered our usual (Nick= Honey Sesame Chicken, Me= Orange Chicken which amazing despite my orange allergy doesn't make me sick, and they use real oranges!) and I couldn't even eat half of mine, so I took it for lunch today. That is where our story begins....

So I reheat the food, and begin to eat. Wow! It's even good the second day! Most places serve food that i can't stand to eat the next day, I'm realllllly picky about the texture of my food (especially meat) and usually throw leftover Chinese away. So I eat and I eat. As I reach the middle of my wonderful chicken stash I do my best to sort out the peppers and orange pieces. There are 4 of the super red hot chili peppers, and a misc number of tiny tiny orange pieces (sure it doesn't seem to bother me, BUt there isn't any point in over doing it!) and I continue to eat. Alll the sudden I feel it. My nose is running, my eyes are watering uncontrolably! Before the world became to blurry I looked down, only 3 peppers! My mouth suddenly begins to burn. I am blowing my nose with napkin after napkin, and holding another to wipe my eyes. I can't see straight, the world is spinning, I'm almost bawling, and suddenly I hear it. The door. The door opens and someone I can't even disguise through my tears enters. "That good huh?" Pat, the wonderful, funny lady from the framing counter.

"Nooooooo," I said through tears, blowing my nose, and feeling as though the heat is going to split my chest open "I accidentally ate a hot pepper!!!!"

"Ohhhhh! Well get some water! Get some soda! Eat from Bread!! No no Milk!"
"I don't have any bread or milk." I said gulping water like I spent 5 years in a desert.
I suddenly have a brain wave! Change! I start pulling every cent out of my pocket and pushing it as fast as possible into the vending machine. My vision is so blurred I can't tell a penny from a quarter I just keep shoving it in, and hit it E1. ( Know E1 by heart!) The giant cinnamon roll, the only possible relief.

I continue to blow my nose, pat my eyes dry, and somehow sprouted two extra arms, one to chow down cinnamon bun and one to gulp a drink. Slowly, so slowly, the pain subsides slightly. Not enough to stop my eyes from watering, but enought o get back to my orange chicken.

I spent the rest of my lunch break patting my eyes drys, and feeling the super hot pepper move through my digestive system.

I leave the break room, and feel it, feel the hot pepper creating the first ever in my life case of heart burn.

I walk to the custom framing counter, "I thought you'd like to know I made it. I'm okay now."

She laughs and explains to a nearby customer "She bit into a hot pepper."

"Actually I didn't bite into it, I accidentally ate the whole thing!!"

"Oh My!" You could hear the gasp from her and several customers.

"Oh my God, a whole one!?!?!"

And on a completely different note, I carded some of my fleece today. I still need to try to spin itup, I don't know if I carded it enough. But dah dah dah!!! The debut of my very first rolag:

Cheese & Crackers

2006-01-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

So it's a New Year. I learned something in the last few hours of last year. For as far back as I can remember my family has had cheese and crackers on New Years. I don't remember a time when we didn't or a year that we skipped. I thought it was our thing. So last night I'm doing the annual New Years Eve cutting of the cheese, and call my parents to see what cheese they have this year, are they staying up, etc. And find out they haven't done cheese for years! To be exact this is the 3 year they weren't doing cheese. Count back with me0 This year I live up here in the house, last year I lived up here in the apartment, and the year before that we were in the hotel for New Years while Nick did some job stuff and we looked for an apartment! Turns out it isn't my families thing at all, it's mine!!! This shocking bit of info made my head spin, I felt dizzy, nauseus, the world was definently spinning faster then usual. "No cheese and crackers? I thought you guys loved it?" Sensing my upsetness my Mom sends my aunt that is visiting into cut cheese in the kitchen (yes I see the humor in that comment) so that they can all have one cheese cracker before bed! I can't believe that all these years, I was the cheese and cracker one! I made it our annual thing!!! I am the reason why my Dad would go out on New Years Eve and buy an assortment of cheese, crackers, and mustards (gotta have the mustards!) Don't get me wrong my Dad loves cheese and crackers, but the New Years thing has nothing to do with it! He did have a few cheesy crackers yesterday morning, but not for New Years, just cause he likes it! I had no idea that I was the one. This startling revelation was something I pondered until well after the ball dropped.

And about the ball dropping, I missed it!! every year (for as far back as I can remember) I would eat cheese and crackers, and watch the ball drop, never missing it. I would always be in the room, watching the TV the see the actual countdown. This year I missed it. I was pondering the cheese and crackers when I started playing a video game with Nick, a fighting one I tend to always win those, and had like 20 minutes left. Suddenly I turn around to go back to my chair after I finished playing, and see the confetti, and people kissing on TV! I Missed it!!

I did start a freeform scarf during my wait for the ball to drop. I've made about 6 motifs, I'm thinking it'll take about 50, maybe more. this is my first freeform project. My lovely SP6 Tracey sent me a Free form book during my spoildom. Thanks Tracey!! adn I'm finally starting a project. My recent 15' long Ice Queen scarf left me with some random yarn remnants I want to use. The Ice Queen was supposed to be 10'. I DIdn't formaly measure it to get started. I am 5'8 so i did a chainf rom my toe to my neck, and back down. Sounds good in theory right? Well when it was finished I measured and it's 15' long!!! It has stripes going long ways so one stripe goes the entire length of the scarf, and I worked it to make the width I wanted. It's a great scarf. So I'm using the remnant to make a free form. We'll see how it goes.

I'm going to start a fiber arts magazine. To debut in hopefully April. It's be a fun, funky, cool magazine with all sorts of stuff to see,read, feel (sample yarns attached!) and more. It isn't focused on just one fiber art, and it is just as likely to include a poem as an article or a pttern. Want more info? email me! I'll also be posting more about it sometime soon.

Happy New Year everyone!

Miscaleanous, Miscelanious, Misceleanious, Misc.

2005-12-31T11:53:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist the urge to use my last packet of Kool-aid on my wool. I grabbed a handful this morning, and shoved it in the pot. I Just LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE it! I think you will to:

I can't wait to see how it looks when it's carded and spun!

As I feel better, rest/relax, and look around a few funny hospital memories are coming back to me. The waterbottles tucked in my purse... We bought some water, and every five minutes probably, in my state of painful conciousness I would say "Nick, don't forget to put your empty bottle in my purse, I want to recycle it." Or "What did you do with your bottle? I don't want it to get thrown away." lol Always the environmentalist! And When we got the the hospital and were still in the car, and I looked down and for some reason at some point of sickness while waiting for Nick got a blanket! lol We were in teh car and I looked down and say "Why did I bring a blanket? When did I even grab it?!?!?!" Ahhhhhh the things I do when I'm sick.

As for more pictures here is my ER sock. The cuff is nearing completion.
This is the KnitPicks Simple stripes yarn. This pattern is made by making the cuff in a long strip then fastening the short ends together, then crocheting the actual sock part down from there. The stripes will be going up and down when the sock is finished if that helps you visualize it.

I also plan on trying a cable pattern. I found this one http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/PATTcoronet.html at Knitty, and it says it's a good first time one, so we shall see.

The SP7 http://secretpalseven.blogspot.com is coming up and I am so excited. I also signed up for the Fiber Fairy Godmother at http://www.livejournal.com/community/fibergodmother/ I'm going to try to add some buttons for them on the sidebar sometime soon.

By the way I know there are nicer ways of doing links, but I just don't feel like it right now! But I do have some links plans for the not so distant future. I am going to add a list of current project links (when applicable) to share the link to a pattern I'm using, and a list of blogs I read, which since SP6 seems to be getting ever longer.

Finished Scarf

2005-12-30T20:45:00.000-05:00

During my rest time today I was able to finish a scarf I've been working on. The main part is knitted, with crocheted shell stitches on the ends for a little extra decor. I can't decide if I should sell it ($20) or send it to a particular person I know. It made out of "Bliss" which I tend to refer to as Fauxgora, cause it feels just like angora, only it's much less expensive! I originally intended it for me, but with 3 black animals, a black haired husband, and my current black hair it just isn't working for me so well. Even while I was knitting it I was forever pulling out hairs! I suppose if I get an offer fast enough I'll sell it (or barter it) and if I don't then I'll send it to this mystery person. And don't worry it's fur/hair free now. I have defurred it, I'm going to check it again then seal it up in a ziploc!

2005-12-30T14:20:00.000-05:00

The Fairy Princess
You are youthful, cheery, and exuberant with a
sunny disposition and a mischievous sense of
humor. You are very lively and are always up
for a good bit of fun. You have a deep love of
nature and animals.
Role Model: Titania
You are most likely to: Convert a pumpkin into a
useful mode of transportation.

What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!)
brought to you by

Photos

2005-12-30T12:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a Few pictures I've taken lately.

My Miniature store in progress.

The beautifullllllll blue yarn I spun.

A rare photo where Stampy doesn't have crazy green eyes.

My Christmas Hats.See the striped one? I wore it to the hospital and didn't take it off the whole time! lol Even during my pelvic exam!

My amazing Christmas body scrub.

Stampy wants to see how much he weighs. But with even half of him on he's afraid to look!

Our Nomie.

Our Sunshine is so crazzy. She loves hamming it up for the camera. Today I swear she tossed her head like women do to toss there hair. Notice the way the one ear is sticking straight out? Apparently she succedded!!

My bruised IV arm.

9 hr ER Pt 2

2005-12-30T11:43:00.000-05:00

So she delivered my cocktail, the people sitting next to me who we had been chatting with nearly gagged and said "Oh boy you have to drink that stuff?!" So I took a sip, not to bad. Nick asked permission to leave and get something to eat. I let it, but I wish I didn't!I took a few more sips, it started to get bad. It made me even more nauseus then I was when I got there. I could hardly hold down a sip at a time. I had serious gurgle stomach, my little term for how your belly is when it has to much liquid and is all gurgly. By the bottom of the first jar 45 minutes had passed! I only had 15 minutes before jar 2 was supposed to start. Nick STILL wasn't back! I started to worry, how long did it take him to walk around the corner to the cafeteria, eat and come back!?!?! Perhaps he drove to get food and was in an accident? Perhaps he was sick of me always being sick and left me?!?!? My mind devoted itselfs to thinking of him instead of my pain or my stomach. Then he finally returned, about an hour after he left, when it was time for cocktail number 2. In the 15 minutes after cocktail 1 before cocktail 2 I can't tell you how many times I nearly lost cocktail 1 and thought I was going to have to start all over.

It's now 5:30, 5.5 hours after we got there, and I start to drink cocktail 2. I get called to actualyl check in and don't drink teh cocktail while I'm chatting. I return and try to drink it. I can't do it. I get just 1/4 of the way done and and begging to stop. I'm crying. I seriously think I might blow cocktail all over the place. But i have to drink. I drink a little more and am at 1/2 of it. I beg the nurse "Do I HAVEEEE to drink all this" the tears are flowing "It makes me feel like I'm going to hurl. I can't take anymore." She looks, shows obvious concern and says "You can stop for now, just rest a minute or two, and start drinking again as soon as your stomach settles."

Hallllllleeelujiahhhhhhhhhhhh!

I no more then started drinking again and am called for my CT scan. It's about 6:30 now. The guy is walking me back and I tell him I haven't drunken it all yet. It's decided that I must drink atleast a little more. I drink, he talks... about fear factor and the gross stuff they eat, all the spiders, bugs ,etc until I am positivly green. He looks at me, stops talking "Oh" and leaves the room.

The female scanner says I have to take my pants down to about my knees so the machine can see my belly better, she bring me a sheet to cover up with. I do as I'm told and I wait.

The machine lifts me up and in. My hands behind my head feel as though she is going to try to cram them into the machine, but stops about 1/2" before they are stuck in the tiny hold. I'm going back out again. Is that it? Am I done? I ponder it. Nope wait I'm going in again! And in and out I went for a number of times, sometimes having to hold my breath, sometimes not.

Then the moment I'll never forget. She injects something into my IV. I CRY out in pain. I don't know exactly what the stuff was but my body didn't like it. I recieve the warning that I'll feel really warm for a minute or two. I feel it, starting in my arm where the IV is and filling my body. I felt like I was on fire. I couldn't move. The whole time the warmth lasted I couldn't move. Then it happened.

I felt warm. I couldn't move, I had no control over my body, and it happened. I start to think, "man this is so warm I feel like I'm going to pee myself." I'm finished. The warmth is over, she flushes my IV, and I pull my pants up and leave. I go to the bathroom right away. That's the way I do things. After anything I go to the bathroom. So I go to the bathroom, look down, and....

My underwear is actually wet! I actually did pee my pants! Not a huge amount. Not like the flood waters broke the damn. Not like everything I drunk came out, but sure enough they were wet. It was definently a few drops, a tiny trickle. I, a grown woman, had peed my pants. Thank God I had my actual pants down and they didn't get wet. I start to worry, is this a normal reaction to the warmth? Am I going to have a severe reaction like they made me read about and sign in the waiver? I think myabe this happened after the pelvic exam? They always make me gooey? Had I went to the bathroom sicne then? So I proceed to dry it up with some paper towel. I can't stand wet underwear, and being 30 minutes from home, in the ER I don't exactly have the choice of changing.

I return to the waiting room, whisper to Nick that I peed myself. Normally I wouldn't post on the internet that I managed to pee myself. But I think anyone with a lick of sense can tell it wasn't my fault. It's not like I was just to lazy to go, or have no control over my bladder. The Warmth made me do it! It's The Warmths fault!!! Plus this ER story just wouldn't be complete without that part of the story!

The warmth liquid made my arm hurt like &%#*, before this my arms was sore, but I actually crocheted a little. After that I wished I could just cut my arm off!

So I return to the waiting room. We wait. We Wait. We wait some more. Nick runs to the car to get his PSP, a Sudoku book, and other busiment items. He comes back and we watch a movie. I cry. The pain is so bad I can't help but cry. But I think even with my extreme pain I had it better then the girl near me. She thought she was going to die. They were feeding her ice, and trying to calm her down. SHe was clinging to the nurses hand like it was the hand of God. And then we heard her speak. "Pray for me! Pray for me now for this all to be over!" So I did, in my head. Nick says "Betweeen you two I don't see how this ER can hold so much pain." I notice the sign has now increased to a 8 hour wait!

We proceed to watch the movie, with me still crying slightly. And finally they call us back for results. It must have been about 8-8:30.

They can't see my appendix on the CT scan. I did however have a ovaric cyst that ruptured. The DR, who was just amazing, we loved her, was concerned. She said it sounds so much like my appendix. She's calling the surgeon. She wants to make sure before I go home. Sometimes apparently a CT scan can't see the appendix. Sometimes they have had problems with that. Bear with her the surgeon will come.

So we wait some more. Finally the surgeon comes. Ask questions, looks at my results. Pushes on my stomach. Finally a verdict is reached. The ruptured cyst has aggravated my appendix, it is slightly inflamed. Is it just from the cyst rupturing? Or is it early signs of appendisitis? We don't know. Apparently there are cases of slight appendisitis caused my something in the body that will fix itself when the problem is fixed. For example when my body recovers from the rupture, the appendisitis will go away. Sometimes people have like a little stool ball that is pressuring the appendix and it gets aggravated, but once the stool ball is released it's better. That's not what happened that's just an example he used. So I have to recover. If the pain was worse this morning I had to go back. Because that would mean it was my appendix too, and not just something that would correct itself. So he drops the bomb- "So go on a clear liquid diet until atleast in the morning." "what!!!! No orange chicken? No honey BBq strips?" "Well if you're hungery that's a good sign it's not your appendix." To which I honestly reply "I'm not hungery! I just love food!" We finally had my IV removed and everything and we left the hospital a little after 9. 9+ hours after we got there! Sure enough as we walk out I look at the sign.... Estimated wait time is 4 hours.

So last night I'm at home, angery over the lack of food. We spent the whole day in the ER talking about where we would eat when it was all over. And then it happened. The Berry Smoothie cocktail finally took it's tole on my stomach. I came out of the bathroom and said "I think you might not want to use that bathroom tonight. It better just be mine for the time being." Atleast it went down and out instead of the other way!

So Here I at home. When I woke up it still hurt like heck but the main problem was the stiffness. Now the pain is much better, but I am very stiff and sore. I didn't go into work. I called in and talked to my manager and here is the conversation.:

Ryan (my manager): I had a feeling it was you on the phone.
Me: Yeah I can't come in today. I do have a doctors note and everything.
Ryan: So what happened?
Me: I had a cyst that ruptured, and it inflamed my appendix.
Ryan: I TOLD you to go to the hospital! Good thing you actually went!
Me: I spent 9 hours in the ER yesterday.
Ryans: (laughs) Of Course!!! What a great day! So you'll be here Monday then?

But in those 9 hours, between all the bad stuff I crocheted like 5-6 more inches on the cuff of my sock! It's a good thing it happened to be in my purse, I'd been working on it at lunch, because it did help pass the time somewhat.

Thank goodness none of you spent 9 hours in the ER yesterday! I hope none of you ever have to experience the cocktail, the warmth, the even the 9 hr wait ever in your life! But if you do, how about letting me know if you peed yourself? I'd like to know I'm not the only one.

My 9 hr ER visit! Pt 1

2005-12-30T08:15:00.000-05:00

Weds. afternoon my side started hurting. I thought it was a pulled muscle from inventory at work and my crazy friend Rose jumping on me. So I handle the pain Weds night by spending the whole night moaning on the couch. Then Yesterday I went to work. I knew I shouldn't have. I knew it was a bad idea. But It was either go to work or have Nick take me to the hospital. I HATE going to the hospital or doctor, even when I'm sick I'd do anything before I'd do that. So I went to work at 8. At 10:30 I was in tears begging to go home. I call Nick and he starts the procedure of leaving work and coming home.

While I'm waiting for him to come home, and I am in excruitating pain I realize I have to find out where the hospital is! So I go to neighbor a (the cop, she'll know for sure!) not home. Neighbor b (the couple that was lived here since 73) not home. Neighbor C, (the mom of 4!) nope not home. So I look around, and in a moment of despiration I went to the very last neighbor I'd probably ever go to for anything, my direct next door neighbor. The home of the insane lady and crazy guy. The people who never drive anywhere yet have 6 cars. The people that we believe may have illegially entered our backyard and brutally attacked our pond plant. I take a deep breath, and knock.

In my horrible pain, I realize when he answers that I have no idea what to say! I think I introduced myself! So he drew me a map, and I headed home, after kindly telling him I know they had problems with the people we bought our house from, and that I don't want there to be problems between us, so if they ever need anything just come on over. Did I mention I was in seriouusssssssssss pain?

So then Nick came home and the real story starts. We get to the hospital at 12. We check in. The estimated wait time is 3 hours. We wait. Finally at 1, the wait time increases to 4 hours. We wait. At about 1:30 I go back for a few basic questions. They sit me down and say they'll be right back. I wait. I wait. I wait. Finally some guy nurse comes in, and I said "I really gotta pee, do I need to take the pee test or can I just go now?" To which he laughs and says "Yeah you might as well take it the bathroom is there (points) and cups are already in there." So I go, I pee, I fill the cup and still have more (and they think it's my kidney!) I return. I set the cup down and wait. While waiting I look at the cup and notice my pee is neon yellow. My vitamins. Tuesday morning Nick starting making sure I remember my vitamins. What a great time to remember my vitamins! So finally she comes back. She asks questions. She looks at the cup "Whooaaaaaa! Your pee is really bright yellow!!" I smile sheepishly, "My Vitamins. My Vitamins do that." She was visably relieved.

So I go back to the waiting room. It's about 2 now, and the time has increased to 5 hours. We wait. Come 3:30, we still hadn't actually seen anybody. SO I go ask, while asking how long the wait is they decided to increase it to 6 hours! I asked if my test results came back, negative on the kidneys. I sit back down and call my Mom, to complain rather loudly. And what do you know!!! They came and got me! I had to hang up with her to go back!!! So we go back. They press on my side so hard I nearly vomit. I get an IV, which hurt like &%#*. They ask questions. Then they say what every woman fears:

You

Need

To

Get

A

Pelvic

Exam.

I nearly cry! A pelvic exam? But I am in a room with just a big curtain for a door! I haven't had any time to freshen up a bit. I agree to have it done there. It's either have it done in the curtain room, or wait an insane number of hours for a regular room. So They toss a robe at me. When I'm in pain I worry about the stupidest things. I said to Nick "If I wear a robe my butt is going to hang out!!" Forget the fact that I was about to be spread eagled right there, I don't want my butt hanging out! So we do the exam. Everything feel normal. She asks if it's uncomfortable. I say "Is it ever comfortable? You have a giant thing spreading me apart!" She laughs.

I have to get a CT Scan. They tell me they'll bring me my "cocktail" in the waiting room. Again.
So we return to the waiting room, where despite the crowd we are able to get the same seats as before!

So about 5 minutes later the waitress delivers my cocktail. I shake it. I open my straw. We struggle to actually open the big jar, and then I start to sip...

This is part one of the story, there is so much to come! But I am exhausted, and still in pain! So I'll post part 2, and possibly 3 if it gets long enough, later as I feel up to it.

On a completely different note, I want to get better at knitting. All I can do is a rectangle or square. I can make limitless plain scarfs, pillows, etc, but that's all. I want to make more stuff.

Fiber Godmother!

2005-12-26T18:33:00.000-05:00

Fiber Godmother Questionnaire

General Fiber Questions:
What are your fiber-related hobbies? (Knit, Crochet, Spinning, Needlepoint, etc.) - let's see here, spinning (wheel & spindles) crocheting, knitting (a little), needle felting a little, sewing, etc etc

How long? - crocheting-one and off for over 10 years seriously in the past year, spinning since about July?, knitting- I've known how for years and years but I'm not a big fan, needlefelting- just a few months,

Which are you *most* into? - probably crochet and spinning
How would you classify yourself in this craft - beginner, intermediate, advanced? - crochet & spinning intermediate, the others only beginner

What is your current fiber-related obsession? - wool! I just got my first whole raw fleece and I love it!

What are your favorite items to make? - scarves it seems, hats

What are you making right now? - let's see, a shrug has been in progress since summer but I don't think I'll ever finish it. I have 2 pairs of socks or rather 1 of each pair done and 1 of each to come, a throw out of handspun wool for my aunt, a white "bliss" scarf, a new sock (not a match to the others) a lonnnnnggggg work in progress of a detailed shawl in lace weight yarn, another scarf I need to pull out and start over, and I think something else I'm forgetting.

What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? - i do miniatures, candle making, collage (not as much as I used to) and pretty much everything else under the sun.

About the fiber:
Your favorite yarn(s) (brand or type)? - I love Lion brand Homespun, and Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud, well actually KnitPicks everything!

What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? - The classic Red Heart

Is there a yarn you've been dying to try? - Not particularly, I try not to look at fancy expensive yarns to much, to try and prevent yearning.

Are you a fiber snob? - nope

About the tools:Hardwood, Bamboo, Aluminum, Plastic? - I like them all. I love the clinky sound of metal needles when knitting, but wood works well for everything, plastic can be nice but it can also totally suck

For knitters: Straight, DPN or Circular needles? - straight

Favorite gadget? - hummmm fiber related? probably the ball winder. Other then fiber related my Magic Bullet (the kitchen gadget that mixes/blends/chops/etc.etc in seconds)

Anything you've been wanting to try? - making gloves (not mittens), dyeing/carding/spinning mohair, needle felting some more stuff, making a sweater, and tons more, plus I'm actually going to do freeform crochet one of these days (I have a book, but just haven't gotten started)

About you:Do you pamper yourself? Or do you generally come last? - a little of both. I have more fancy bath products then one person really needs, but I would never get a manicure or anything

What does an ideal day off/free hour consist of for you? - checking email and checking in on forum, watching TIVOed crafts shows from the previous week while doing something fibery on the couch.

Are you allergic to anything? - ohhhhhh yeah. oranges, pineapples, rootbeer, spicy scents(like apple cinnamon and suchor something things like "spruce") give me an asthma attack, apparently feathers break me out in hives (found that out at work suddenly) I can't take alot of smoky smells they give me migraines and asthma attacks. None of this shoudl come up in teh swap, just don't send me feathers or candied pineapples! lol

What is your family situation? (Partner, spouse, kids, etc.) - married, no two legged kids yet

Are you owned by any pets? - two cats (Stampy, and Nomie) and a black lab Pup Sunshine.

Your favorite color(s)? - All time ultimate favorite ever? Blue! But I also really love greens, and natural colros like brown. If I am looking to buy something and blue is an option then there are no other options for me, but if thereisn't blue then ...

Any colors you just can't stand? - purple. I absolutely HATE purple. I'm not to fond of pink, but sometimes they manage to mix pink and blue in a suitable item.

What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) - raspberry, anything else berry, my all time ulitmate favorite scent ever is laundry (like "Clean Linen") I just love it! I also love vanilla, sweet pea, cucumber melon, natural scents like "honey" "brown sugar" etc etc

Least favorite? (Maybe you're not "allergic," but it makes you want to die) - orange, and anything spicy ( i don't not like some of them, but try to avoid an asthma attack whenever possible)

How do you feel about candy? - c andy?Where? I want some!!!! Seriously i have a huge "Flour" tin filled with candy, 1 BIg drawer in the kitchen full, and two old fashioned glass candy jars full, plus I try to tuck some in anywhere I can around the house

Any dietary restrictions? - Yes. I have a rule then when I see food I eat it!

Is there anything that you collect? - All things Potato Head (mr. mrs. the kids, books, games, anything) fairies a little, goddesses somewhat, nice vintage trinket boxes/jewelry boxes, junk? does that count? I seem to own abnormally large amount of junk. I also love little candy/mint tins that are shaped like stuff (like my mint tin that looks like a sub sandwich) I seem to collect yarn. I also want to start collecting fancy/old/unique fiber art goodies (like knitting needles, crochet hooks, spoll knitters, etc)

What is your favorite holiday? - Halloween

Do you have an online wish list (e.g. Amazon, Things I Want)? If so, share the link. If nothing else, it will give your Godmother more ideas about your likes/dislikes. - Yeah I do have an amazon one, but I have no idea what the link is. I THINK it coems up if you search my name. I'll give some more info about me though. I LOVE Harry Potter, scarves, jewelry, ponchos, capes, cloaks, yarn, candy, funky anything, anything artsy, old stuff, weird stuff, novelties (I have an 14" long pen!!)I still like cute stuffed animals, I Love Heads, like mannaquin heads, statues of heads, puzzles of weird heads, I like video/computer games (things that are cute mostly) I love sanrio stuff, especially Deery lou, Badtz Maru, and Chococat.I LOVE funky ads/labels/graphics etc Like t-shirts that say funny stuff, or old thigns with neat labels. I pretty much like everything! I don't dislike very much!

Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? - yeha I'm pretty sure
What kind of music do you like? - lots, I'm kidna weird like that. I love "girl" music liek Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Sarah Mcglaclin ( I know it's spelled wrong) I love anything acoustic. I liek some alternative rock, I love disco/60s/70s music (everything from Stayin Alive to Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix) I also like funk, funk techno, voiceover techno, and stuff like Blondie. I even like odd stuff like polka.

Any special requests in case your Godmother wants to make a CD for you? - Not really, but if you want me to be happy I'd proabably stick with old or acoustic stylings.

Favorite movie(s)? - Empire Records, How to Make and American Quilt, Every Harry Potter out there, Calendar Girls is good, How to Deal, and lots more. But my absolutel favorites are the first three listed.

Any "fan" stuff? (e.g. Firefly, Wonder Woman, etc.) - Yeah Harry Potter, Sanrio, Wonder Women, and more. Those are the main three

Anything we missed? Tell, Tell! I don't think soooooooo. I guess to say I love everythign and dislike littel would be the main point of this seminar. Coming up next I'll tell you how to ace that job interview! (first person to know where that comes from get s a free smile!)

My fleece & Christmas

2005-12-25T11:06:00.000-05:00

I am washing my fleece. After several hours of changing water last night I decided I better just soak it, cause it didn't seem like the water was getting any clearer. So I have to start the washing process over again. So All I have to show right now is the tiny handful I washed in the sink yesterday. You won't believe it.

Here's a picture of the unwashed fleece yesterday:

Here's the handful of washed fleece. I'm telling you you won't believe it!!!!!:

Sorry It's a little blurry!

For Christmas I got three hats in my stocking. I'll take a picture of those later. I'm wearing one now. They came from the local dollar store, I'm thinking off going and buying more to pull apart and wind into balls. It's pretty nice yarn for a buck!

I also got the best body scrub. It a brand called "obey your body" which is just the best stuff in the whole world. It made with dead sea salts and such, and sold in kiosks at our local mall. It's super duper body scrub. Wonderful wonderful stuff.

I got Nick some model stuff (hobby knife, sandpaper, etc) soem sketching stuff, and the kicker. Last night we went to the video game store to wish our buddies a Merry Christmas, and without him noticing I bought him a $20 giftcard! He was only standing like 5 feet away and had no idea!!! I usually stand at the counter while he shops, so I sttod there and said "You think you could get me a $20 giftcard without him noticing?" To which Donna said "Sure, just pass the money over the counter, and I'll pass it around the side." so we did, I got it, and he had NO idea!!

I'll post pictures of my gifts later. I have a ton of pictures in my camera and i'm trying to wait to delete them, but I already have two copies on my computer, so I'm trying not to upload them all over again.

Merry Christmas to alll!!!! And here's to a fibery new year!!

It came it came it came it came it came it came it came!

2005-12-24T16:14:00.000-05:00

If I wasn't totally in love with fiber arts before. If I didn't have a hopeless love for wool, and all things fiber. I do now! I got my first raw fleece today. I'm so in love!!! I want to buy more!!! More!! More!!! more!! I think I just might spend every dime from now on on raw wool. I LOVEEEEEEEEE It!!! Here's a virtual opening for you:

The fleece was so stuffed into the box!!! I have NO idea how he managed to get it to fit. After sorting it somewhat I shoved it into a pillowcase! BUT it wouldn't all fit!! It's at least two pillowcase full if not more!!! I took a small handful and am "washing" it. Really I just tossed a handful into hot water in the bathroom sink. But it is just the most beautiful snowy white!

I've spent literally all day (I woke up at about 8:30 and got started right away) making giant chocolate kisses and chocolate lollipops. 8 kisses have been done. I still have about 5 to go. I made these neat little chocolate "trees" for my neighbors. Here's a pic:
Notice the tags coming out of the kisses? I made them on the computer. They just say "Merry Christmas! Love Alicia & Nick" The "trees" are three different sizes for three different households.

I am going to finish this post before it gets to long. I had an amazingly long post eariler and then suddenly my internet messed up, and I lost it all! I don't want to risk it again!

Happy Christmas Eve!!

Finally

2005-12-18T13:35:00.000-05:00

Stupid blogspot. I was posting a while ago, and suddenly the screen said that bloger wouldn't wok on my computer because of my cookie settings! So I worked on my settings and still wouldn't work. So finally i just figured I tried everything, and that the problem must not be with my computer. So I just kept trying to open blogger occasionally, and POW!! Finally I can post again.

So let's see, what do I need to say??????

Well I did order (and am trying to patiently await) a 6.5 lb fleece. I wanted a big one, so they took their biggest one and after skirting it came to 6.5, so that's what I got. It should be coming any day now! Now that I think about it, I can't remember what color it is! I don't know if I ever knew. The price was right so I got one! lol

I also found a vintage kit on ebay for a Miniature store that is no longer available! It's perfect for my little miniature Dreamers! It should also be coming any day! Here's some pictures of the item that the seller sent me.

I recently spun up some great blue yarn. I haven't taken a picture yet, but I'll have to get one and post it, the yarn is just so beautiful!

This year I decided not to decorate for Christmas, so we don't have a tree or anything. I did put up two stockings, and our animated marshmallow man. He's a big Smore, and plays the music to "It's a Marshmallow World" while dancing around a bit. Since we aren't really doing Christmas we opened our gifts already! Nick loves his telescope (which I have a funny story about) and he got me the printer dock for my digital camera! so I can print pictures in a snap!

Now the funny telescope story. So I went to the local BJ's warehouse to get one, but didn't like what they had, so I drove to the mall that has a Discovery store, because I knew they had some also. Some people might now know this, but I don't particularly like driving. I get very uncomfortable, and feel as though everyone else is a horrible driver that is going to try to hit me. Which does somewhat seem to be true, but I drive daily and handle it well. So driving 20 minutes to the mall of all places where I had only driven once (and didn't even drive both ways) and only been to a few times, and was still somewhat uncomfortable with going to, when it was getting dark out, is a big deal. So since I was a little uncomfortable I parked in the same exact parking area that we also do, because it was what I know, and I know where in the mall I'd have to exit to get to that area, etc etc. So I park, in the first park I can find which is about a million miles from the mall. It was a park in almost the very last row of parking spaces, farthest from the mall. So I go into the mall, and realize the store I need is all the way at the other end! So I walk there. I pick a telescope, after getting some help from a guy that worked there, who didn't even just tell me to get the most expensive! And then paid for it. Then he says "Do you want to go around to our back door and pick it up? Or did you want us to hold it until you are done your shopping? Or did you just want to take it now?" Which makes me realize that a telescope such as this isn't a very light thing. It weighs about 20 lbs!! So I asked where the back door is, because being uncomfortable driving I didn't want to drive all over looking for it. Here's pretty much how the conversation went from there:
"Well it can be difficult to find, here (grabs paper) I'll write down the phone number, you can call from your cell, and I'll tell you where to go."
I don't like talking and driving, especially in an area where I am already uncomfortable. But I figure I can get close, call, and not talk whiel actually driving, and so "Oh ok! Thanks! So if I just drive around outside the mall, will I see the door at all?"
To which he says " You just have to go into the parking garage, and then"
I cut in "Parking Garage!?!?! It's in the parking garage!?!?!" Parking garages make me very nervous! I have never had the urge to drive in one, and would probably do anything it would take to never have to. Just riding in a car in a parking garage makes me want to curl into the fetal position!

I look around, contemplate the fact that I am parked at the complete other end of the mall. And ask "Well how heavy is it??"
"Oh it's aaa pretty heavy"
I rock the box a bit. Lie.
"Oh I can handle it. It's not to bad."
At which point I take my receipt, stick it in my bag, pick up the shopping bag that contains the other goodies I bought (a set that included a star map and other stuff, and a dvd set I got real cheap for spending so much) toss the telescope up on my hip, and start the process of lugging it through the mall.
So there I go carrying a 20 lb telescope in a box that's about 3 feet long and not so tiny in the other dimensions, parked on my hip like most people carry a baby, and start walking through the crowded mall. Full grown men eyeballing me like I must either be crazy or amazingly strong to carry this stupid thing. Then exit the mall, and start the long trek to the car. I got to the car and realized I didn't have my keys. My keys are in my purse, which is hanging on my shoulder, with the shopping bag at my wrist, and the same arm holding the giant box on my hip (I had been using the other arm to help support it, and such) so I have to drop the telescope, gently which was diffulcult because my this point i was freezing cold and my hip was numb and brusied from carrying the box, while then remove the shopping bag which is so stuffed onto my arm I literally have red marks 1/2" deep where it was digging into me. THEN get my purse and fumble through the 9 different pockets (thanks for the purse Mom!) until I find my keys. THEN I have to pop the trunk (I drive a scion, so it's like a hatchback style) and I have to hold the telescope with one hand to lean it back while I open the door with the other hand, and try not to have the telescope fall over, or manage to hit everycar around me with the door. Then lift the telescope into the back!

SO finally I finished and went home!! I sure hope Nick knows I love him! Cause I went through A LOT to get him that telescope!! He thinks it's fair because he had to wait like 45 minutes for the people at the store to actually find my gift in the back!

Last night after much struggle I fixed our leaking bathtub faucet! There isn't much more to that story.

Happy Holidays!!

Michigan!!! DUH!

2005-12-02T19:07:00.000-05:00

I'm such an idiot, and I have really proved it lately! Here's some proof:

MI is Michigan! Not Missourri!I should know since I wanted to move to MO a few years ago! DUH! Here's my sign! lol

And!!
Today I was almost 30 minutes late for work. Know why? Try to guess.......

I got confused and thought I worked 9:30 to 5 instead of 9 to 5:30!!! It was 9:03 and I was letting the dog out and getting ready to leave when I said (outload I was so surprised) "Oh NOOOOO I'm supposed to be there already!!!!!" I raced there, and of course it took almost 20, if I'm running early it take 5! lol and got there. I wasn't in trouble or anything. I just always think it's 9:30 to 5 instead of what it really is, but this is the first time that I didn't realize it in time. Usually the wrong time is just in the back of my head, but today for some reason it was wayyyyyy at the front! lol

And on another topic: I wore my mohawk today. I got it so straight up and stiff it's amazing!! Probably that extra 30 minutes I had! lol Picture to come later.

And apparently this morning Nick caught our adorable baby (Tracy, you might not want to read this) gnawing on my new alpaca scarf!!!!!!! It isn't torn up or anything, but there is on loop hanging out now, that I need to somehow manage to tighten back up. But look at this face:

You just can't be mad at him.

And that's pretty much all I have to say right now.

I think I'm in love!

2005-12-01T16:49:00.000-05:00

With another man? NO
With a skien of yarn? No, not this time, well maybe...
With a new Animal? No
With an old friend? No.
With a woman? YES!! I think I'm in love with my SP6! Only she is no longer a secret. She has spoiled me so amazing over the last few months. I can't believe how well she understand my personality already. The SP6 program is pretty much over, (it officially ends in 3 days) and while that nearly brings a tear to my eye I feel as though I have made a friend for life. I got my finaly SP6 gift in the mail *sniff sniff* It was amazing (as the gifts have been all along) Wanna know what I got? Check this out!!:
You can hardly see it all! Here's a closer up series of pictures and descriptions.

This picture shows the groovy post-its, and notepad. The samples of some Philosphy products. And the ohhhhh soo awesome I'm in love asain patterned knitting needle case.

This picture is a little more filler. It shows: The nifty santa bag made of lime green fur with white trim in which she packed several goodies. It also shows the very retro butterfly pin (from Coach!, it's a limeish green with silver. Amazing yarn, which is why i said maybe to the love a new skein of yarn above, a crochet pattern booklet. A wonder women keychain. A "Fun Lunch" candy pack. It's made to look liek a soda, fries, and a burger! A mini bowling game, some The Dog mini playing cards, the neatsy little keychain!! It's a little sheep that poops candy!! Cola flavored candy to be exact! It takes three of my favorite things (sheep, candy, and novelties (no not poop!) and combines them. A red (or possibly dark pink? I haven't used it yet) pen with a furry green top. And the best tasting little White Chocolate mints!!!! Also notice the wonderful confetti on the crochet booklet? She tossed a ton of it in the box. It added sparkle and suprise to everything! Anyone who knows me knows that of course I am keeping it all!!

The last little section shot contains: Some old fashioned candies (which I haven't tasted yet, but usally LOVE this kind.) A pen that has a stamper at the top, and is full of candy. Two books "The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe" and "Finding God in the Land of Narnia." Also a wonderful scarf she made in the best way, with love and prayer. It's a super soft green (duh to the green ,it's in the picture! lol) with a great lace pattern.

Notice how much she already knows that I love candy and novelties!

Wanna know more about my spoiler? Her name is Tracey, and she lives in MI. Missouri? right? She is a wonderful example of a good Christian woman. I'll be adding her blog to my links. It'll be one of my regular reads now.

Tracey: I love you! You have been the best pal, and I know you will be the best friend since this is over. I pray that God will continue to touch your life, and that you will not be swayed from your beliefs.

Oh one last side note: Mom, you'll love to know that I wore my mohawk to work yesterday! I got great responses, and almost everyone loved it. (Of course I asked the manager if it was okay, before I did it.)

Maybe it's no so bad?

2005-11-27T14:33:00.000-05:00

I found something I like that I can do with my hair. I dunno how often I'll do it but...

My Week

2005-11-27T13:11:00.000-05:00

I had a fiarly eventful week. Monday was normal.

Here's a visual view of my week:

Tuesday I went to get my hair cut. I decided I'm done with black, and was smart enough to decide to get it cut out instead of the horrible horrible damageing stripping. So I got it cut. I hate it. The women butchered me. The top is way to long, and the sides are way to short. All i can get it to do is lay slicked down, or stand straight up, but i can't get my whole head to do one or the other. I told the women I want it to be a fun funky cut, that is unsual, artsy, odd... and instead she gave me this and says "well you'll just have to style it and make it funky." I hate it. I showed her a picture and said "I like this length, this haircut looks okay, but I want something funkier" she gave a horrible horrible cut that looks nothing like the picture, then says she did it just like the picture. I still don't have all the black out. But I will in about a month or so. Notice the Harry Potter wallpaper on my computer?

Weds I worked, then pretty much did nothing else.

Thursday was of course Turkey day. I cooked. Here's some pictures:
My kitchen in the midst of cooking.

My Turkey. I think I snapped this pic a little bit before it was done.

My sink in the Midst of it all.

My husband, and one of our house guests. I didn't manage to snap a picture of our other guest.

Afterwards with the leftovers being packed away.

After dinner our one guest left to meet her cousin. Shortly to return to pick me up so we could go together and see the new Harry Potter. I've never before in my life wanted to pay to see the same movie in the theater more then once. But when she said she was thinking of going I quickly jumped at the idea of going again.

Friday I worked. Nothing to report about that. I did completely forget to do my ordering! I called in Saturday and my boss said he'd take care of it. I'm not in trouble or anything. After I got home from work I made abour 4 dozen chocolate lollipops. To give to the people I work with, friends, neighbors etc.

Then Saturday I woke up, called work because I realized I forgot to order then made these:
Minature books. It took me 2+ hours to make four. Notice there are only three in the picture? That's because I accidentally fell asleep and one our our animals (which one is still a mystery) did something to the 4th. I have no idea where it is. They have real pages and everything.

And that is pretty much my week. Any questions???

Also to my SP6- I haven't gotten the package yet. My guess is that the season is slowing it down. I'll let you know when it arrives!

Wow- A Post Finally

2005-11-20T14:33:00.000-05:00

Wow, I really haven't posted much over the last month. But that'll change starting today! I swear!! Here's some photos to show the little bit of stuff I've done in the last month or so.

I finished Nick's scarf. It's about 6' or so long. He loves it! Even wore it when we:

Saw the NEW Harry Potter Movie!!!!!!!!!!!! We saw it opening night. He preordered tickets online, it was a good thing to! When we got there for the 7:10 movie there was lines filling the lobby for later showings (like 8:10, 9:30! etc.) I had to race home from work and we drove straight there. We barely made it in time and got stuck with front row seats. My neck was killing me when we got out of there 3 hours later! We could have had seats about 3 rows back, but some ignorant &*%#(&%! had seats "reserved" with the classic coat method, and we didn't feel like starting a fight.

I also made myself a scarf. Using Katia brand Nepal. This scarf is about 5' or so long and only used one skein. Good thing to as it usually cost $15! I used my discount and such though.

I also have started doing cake decorating. I always loved seeing my Aunt bring out her stuff, and some of the stuff she made, or I saw in books I'd buy for her, so I bought a kit and am teaching myself how to decorate cakes. I like to think I'm starting out rather well. Here's my very very first decorated cake that I made for Nick. It could have looked better, but I didn't have the stuff on hand already to make icing from scratch, so I ended up using the canned stuff we originally bought to go with the cake before I started this. This is the top:

Here's the way I did the sides:

And that is pretty much it. I did buy alot of yarn recently, but it is already stashed away in my studio to help keep the house clean when I do the Thanksgiving thing. At work they took yarns that had the wrappers torn off, or were tangled, and straighted them and packaged them 3 to a bag for $5. I Bought 7 bags! I got several skiens of yarn I know is $15 a piece, some lion brand incredible ($8) some various ladder yarns ($6-8 a piece) and more! I'm thinking scarves for Christmas gifts (and myself! lol as it is already pretty chilly here some days)

I haven't really spun anything because I'm having trouble with my wheel. Maybe it is user difficulties, I dunno.

anyway that's it. I'm posting again! Have a great day!

A very short post.

2005-11-05T11:16:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to post to let everyone know that i am not dead. So here is my very short post:
I got switched my first day from Wedding/Candles to Floral. So I handle all the fake flowers. I like it.

I'm sick as a dog. I stayed home yesterday with a 102 fever, and still have a 100 today. when I got that job I shouldn't have started the next day, I never had time for my sinuses to recover and have just gotten sicker and sicker.

Between the hours at my job (i've even gotten a little overtime) and being sick I just haven't had time to post, I'm sorry. I qwork all day, then come home and sleep all night, until the next morning when i go to work. I haven't hooked, needled, or spun hardly anything for two weeks.

To sum it up- I feel like crap.

A Yarn Day

2005-10-23T20:39:00.000-04:00

Today a friend of mine and I headed out the to DC Knit Out & Crochet. It wasn't quite what I expected, but it would have been if I took the time to read the brochure they gave us. It turnes out we could have spent several more hours there (instead of the 45 minutes that we did) and have gotten more goodies if we read the brochure. We both know how to knit and crochet, but if we did "learn to..." lessons for either we would have gotten a goody. I was very upset that there was a scarf contest that they completely failed to mention online, so I didn't take one. Then we tried to find a nearby yarn store with no such luck. Apparently the lady at the event had no idea how to get to her own store. So on the way back to where we started after we made a giant circle we stopped to have a potty break, and I got a nosebleed. so I had to walk around DC holding a tissue to my nose, while squeezing to try and stop it. With yarn shopping already in mine we headed to AC Moore. As we walked in there was a sign advertising that they need seasonal help. So as we shopped I filled one out.

Well as she paid for her new yarn, the lack of a job has run out my yarn funding so I didn't get anything, I turned in the application and asked to meet the manager. He saw I was willing to work full time and .....

.....

.....

.....

......

......

Hired me as the new full-time (and not just seasonal) Wedding & Candle Department Merchandiser!!! From what he said apparently I will kinda be like the department manager. I will stock, order inventory, help customers, and more. The schedule is perfect! The pay is perfect! The discount will be amazing!!! I start tomorrow. I have to be in at 9 to fill out paperwork and such. On the way I have to stop and buy a lock for my locker, and some nasal spray for allergies. I'm nervous. I feel like I will be expected to know something I don't, or they will just expect me to know and walk off and leave me to "my" department. I know it's stupid. But if I wasn't nervous I'd be like unhuman, so I have to nervous about something!

On a different note I got another wonderful package from my secret pal! It arrived yesterday, I think it was yesterday this whole allergy/sinus/cold? thing has me to out of it to really tell. Here's a picture:
It had a great book on freeform crochet, with pattern for the motifs, and a few patterns for finished items. I can't wait to try it!!!! I have been wanting to try freeform.

A pattern for felted slippers. It's one of the great fiber trend patterns she sends, in a plastic sleeve, with a full color picture (a real picture) of the finished project

Some Harry Potter Acid Pops. Lollipops that are kinda sizzly at first in an apple flavor. They are great!

A Brittany crochet hook! it's so beautiful I was comtemplating framing it to hang on the wall instead of actually using it

3 skiens of Alpaca Cloud from Knit picks in Tidepool, and!! It managed to be the same dyelot as the ones I bought! I was worried I might run out when I start my shawl, but I know 8 skiens will be enough! I had a bit of a balling party last night, so while I was at it I balled these too.

2 skiens of Knitpick Sock Garden yarn in Pansy, a great combo of yellow, purple, black, and fuschia.

And 2 skiens of Moda Dea "Ricochet" yarn in a great reds/oranges combo.

I think that's everything. I had scattered the package a bit through the house, but I think I regathered everything for the photo. (added later-) I just realized that I also got a pair of circular bamboo takumi knitting needles that didn't make it in the picture! Thanks pal!

Oh and just for kicks here's a picture of my yarn cabinet. I have outgrown this one, I think I'll be putting a bigger cabinet on the shopping list now that I'm working again. There was a great cabinet with fold down doors at Bj's for $100. It came with 12 fancy scrapbooks that I wouldn't use, but man the cabinet was nice! I have all this, plus boxes and boxes that my Mom gave me (picture still to come) and ton of balls I wound laying all over the downstairs bookcase, and a few more scattered in various bags from the store lol. Can you tell looking at it that I love blue and greens?

While I was on vaction my mom loaned me her large assortment of knitting needles. Their nothing fancy, just regular metal needles ( and a small few of plasic ones) we figured right now I'm working with yarn and she's quilting instead. There's no point in me paying $4+ for needles when she has a ton she isn't using. If she ever needs them then I'll give them back, because by then I'll probably have a good stash of fancier ones. I also got a stack of various fiber arts books. Crochet, knitting, weaving, etc. Nothing like shopping at Mom's lol.

Well I am off to bed. I want to read a little and still be in bed early to be ready for tomorrow.

Vacation

2005-10-21T18:54:00.000-04:00

I didn't post about it, because I didn't think it was a good idea to announce our house would be empty, but we went on vacation this week. We went to South Carolina where we grew up to see my family, and our old friends. We went to Alcolu, a town so small even people a county over may not have heard of it. There wasn't alot to see or do. Mostly we ate at restuarants that we don't have locally. I took three pictures, though I did mean to take more. I took a picture of a restaurant menu, and two pictures of my old friend. He was the Man of Honor at our wedding. Meaning that he was my maid of honor, and my only "bridesmaid." We also found out that after years of common law marriage (wether they knew it or not they were) my uncle and his girlfriend got married today. We were already home by that point, but unless something happened they are married right now. They don't need anything, but I am crocheting them some dishclothes anyway.

I got to see the kids my mom is a nanny for, and my old girls Abby, and Victoria. Who I forgot my camera and couldn't get pictures off. They have a rather complicated story that I won't post, but we (my mom and I) used to be a nanny to them, (mostly Abby cause she was young, and Victoria occasionally after school) and man did I love that girl (Abby since I rarely saw Victoria) We watched her from 9 months to like 2 years, seeing her pretty much every day. She was my girl. Then because of some very stupid reasons, and one crazy woman, we didn't watch them anymore. I haven't seen her since, until this Wednesday. She 4 now. Tall and thin as ever. Abby broke my heart, and didn't want me to leave. I am planning on creating little care packages for them (Abby and Victoria) occasionally (like once a month or so) with little stickers, fake tattoos, candy, that sorta stuff, just to let me know i'm thinking about them.

Anyway dinner should be ready any second now, so I'm going to post a picture of Chris. My Man of Honor. He says if he ever gets married I have to return the favor and be his "Best Lady"

Chris if your crappy internet stays connected long enough for you to view my page, I want you to know I love you. It means so much to me to know that you are the only one that kept in touch with me after I left school, and the only person who really seemed to care when I did. Sometimes when I think about how big the posse was when I was in school, and I realize that now I only talk to you (and not nearly as much as I should) I get upset, then I say "well atleast I still have Chris."

Oh an before I forgot, my best friend from highschool is getting married in December. I doubt she'll read this (we haven't spoken for probably six years, we lost touch after I left school), but I wish her the very very best. She never knew how envious of her I always was.

Sooooooo much to say:

2005-10-12T13:49:00.000-04:00

I didn't realize it's been several days since I updated this. I've been so engrossed in stuff that I totally lost track of time. Wanna know what I've been engrossed in? Here's a rundown:

Spinning- I'm on my 5th cheese of pencil roving for my aunts throw. I also brought out my spindle for some handdyed (by me) roving last night.

Crocheting- I started the throw, and have about 5 or 6 rows. I'm just doing a big rectangle slightly larger then 50x60" (I'm just measuring it against a throw that I have) so far I have about 4 of the 60". I'm also making a Puff n stuff scarf to swap with the matching hat for a necklace from a fellow indie. And I finished, except for the edging I need to pull out and just without a scarf for a scarf swap.

Knitting- I practiced a bit, with different yarns to find the right one two try, and am now working on a scarf. I'm using some neat colored mill-end Lion Brand Homespun to make Nick a scarf.

Harry Potter- I'm now on book 5, and have another gameboy game- The Quidditch World Cup, which I also have on PC but it is so much easier on my gameboy.

Yarn buying- Lots of new yarns here. My Knitpicks order came today, and I spent some time on Saturday at AC Moore (Yes, Mom I got you a pack of quilling paper) .

Digital Scrapbooking- I recently heard more about digital scrapbooking, and decided I had to try it, not with the intention of actually doing it, but I must try everything once. I LOVED it right away. I was useing a free trial program, but Saturday we went to Curcuit City and I ended up with a brand new drawing tablet which came with the program I wanted. I love my drawing tablet!!!!! And I've been scrapbooking up a storm since I got it.

Dyeing- Remember all that plain roving? Well some of it is no longer plain. I spent a lot of time yesterday in the kitchen with some kool-aid and wet roving. I ended up with some great stuff! I did the method which makes it vareigated, and then have been redyeing each set with a complimentory color to help fill it in more. So red with a pinkish color. Pink lemonade with regular lemonade.

Here's enough photos to slow even the fastest internet-
Red roving. Cherry overdyed with strawberry kiwi.

I read that an once of roving is about feet long, so I did 3 arm lengths, I haven't weighed it but it should be a little over and once worth. I used this "meaure" for all the dyed roving.

I hope thes epictures don't disclose me to my secret pal. I'll be sending her some, so if she sees these pictures she'll know who I am, but I just have to share!

And some yarn spun from it:
This is just about a yard of roving. Most of my dyes I did the 3 arms length and just a yard or so sample length.

Blue Roving- from Berry Blue. I haven't overdyed it yet, but and going to use Ice Blue to do it.

I just LOVe this roving. Pink Lemonade followed by a regular lemonade overdye. Just dreamy. I need to come up with a neat name for it.

This cotton turned out a dreamy color using just orange koolaid, in teh microwave, with no overdye, but the cotton didn't take to dyeing very well. It's a useless lump. The color is incredible though! But notice all the dye on the papertowels :(

The blue and red roving I used the stovetop, the lemonade and orange I used the microwave. I prefer the stovetop method now that I've tried both. It takes a little longer, but the colors seem more colorfast. When I rinsed the stovetop ones hardly any dye came out, the microwave ones had alot come out. The stovetop method is a better do it and walk away method.

This has been done forever, but I don't think i ever shared it. I was going to leave it as singles, but now that I have a ballwinder I might ball it, then spin both ends to ply. I think it'll be stronger that way. By the way it's much prettier then in the picture

This has been done since the weekend my parents came, but I don't remember sharing it before. It's the Dinner Mints roving. Beautiful stuff this yarn!

Here is a bunch of my spun (and plyed) pencil roving yarn just stacking up on the bookshelf. I've used about 2 balls so far. and I still have 2.5 cheeses to spin. I hope I ordered enough roving!

Notice the recycled silk yarn awaiting the ball winder.

Here's a picture of the throw so far. Not much to see really. It looks more like a belt then a throw. But it is working up fairly quickly.

The ugly shawl is finished except weaving in the ends, and I may do like a shell edging or something. Wonder why it's called the ugly shawl? Here's a close-up of the yarn. In all actually though I really love it! I don't think it's as ugly as when I started.

The Puff n Stuff scarf is just a few rows of puff stitches at the ends and single crochets for the body. It's abotu 4 inches wide. I think I'm about 1/3 done.

Here's a close-up to show the pattern. I hope it isn't as dark as it suddenly looks.

Sick of pictures yet? To bad I still have TONS more! About 8 or so to go.

The knitted scarf in progress. I'm just making every row with knit stitches. then I'm going to make a scarf using nothing but purl stitches. To help me get better at each one before combinding them.

Here's a closeup of the scarf so far.

The pattern of the yarn I'm using is just amazing. I wanted to share it. It looks like the scarf will be heading towards a blue patch.

Here's the scarf i'm doing for the scarf exchange. It's the curly scarf on the cover of the current Interweave Knits Crochet issue. Fun to make and only 4 rows. The yarn is kinda vintage and I ran out before i had enough to do the edging. I'm debating using a different yarn, or letting it go without. Have I ever mentioned I'm addicted to magazine subscriptions? The scarf is laying on a stack of about 6 I haven't even touched yet sicne I brought them in from the mail.

Onto the yarn!

My knitpicks order. I got (i'll try to go from top left corner to bottom right corner) Simple Stripes in Sunset for sock. GREAT yarn!! Parade sock yarn in Forest. Wool of the Andes, only $1.79 per ball and not scratchy! in Blue Bonnet. Shadow yarn in Jewels, beautiful, simply beautiful! 5 skiens to make a shawl or something. Alpaca Cloud yarn in Tidepool, which is a beautiful blends of colors. It's soft. It's just amazing! And Gossamer in Caribbean. The second row has Dancing yarn in Jig. This is pretty stuff! The dancing yarn just looks different then I expected, and it it so neat. Followed by Simple Stripes in Vineyard. And Merino Style in Moss.
Here's some various close-ups of the order.

Sock yarns.

Wool of the Andes in Blue Bonnet, Merino Style which is much prettier green then it looks, and
Shadow Jewels.

Alpaca Cloud in Tiedpool. I think I could buy nothing but this yarn ever again and be completely happy. And Gossamer.

Here's some of my AC Moore purchases. I also bought some stuff for my pal, that obviosuly I won't be sharing with you, and the paper for my mom. I got three skiens fo gray homespun for a prayershawl, some size 8 needles, a needle gauge to try making my own, a mini stack of fall themed scrapbook papers, a bag of homespun mill ends $5 for one lb!!

Here's a digital scrapbook page to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

And on the regular stuff: Today I finallllly went to the bank and came home to find, try to guess...........

Saturday when I drove to AC Moore my keys never ended up back in my purse! I was locked out!!!!! I went to the neighbor who I know has a key, but she didn't come to the door, so I went to the other neighbor to try to figure out what to do. I feel like such an idiot! The neighbor with the key was apparently in the shower, she gave me the key, and all ened without me climbing over the back fence to hang out for several hours until Nick got home!

Then just now while uploading the massive amount of pictures you just looked at I took a bite of my pizza lunch and seriously burned my mouth. I mean really really bad, no doubt the worst burn ever in my life. I'm in serious pain!!!!

and that is I do believ all that is new in my life. Ready for more pictures???

Oh and just in case you're wondering, I started writing this message a 1:49, nonstop and it's now 3:13!!!

Roving & SP6 package

2005-10-06T12:43:00.000-04:00

Today was a good mail day! A package from my Secret Pal and 5+ lbs of roving. You know what funny a five lb box of rovng feels much lighter then a 5 lb bag of sugar even though they are the same weight. Okay so I'll do roving first. I got 1 b each of cotton, and two types of wool, all natural colored so I can try some dying, and make some natural colored stuff also. I also got 2 lbs of dark brown pencil roving. It's for a blanket for my aunt. I can't decide now that I see it in person if I will actually spin it, or use it as is for a bulky texture. Probably spin it for strength more then anything. Here's a picture of my roving:

The pencil roving comes in wheels or "cheeses" here's a picture of what one cheese looks like:

I LOVE the smell of wool. I could just smell it all day I think.

I almost forgot (until I looked up and saw it sitting there) I also ordered some "Carpet Warp" from Mielkes. I got colonial green to try and make some placements or coasters or something with my weaving loom. Here's a picture of that:

Okay on to my suprise goodies: My secret pal sent me a great assortment of stuff here's a picture:

The package included:
A Halloween cookbook

Brittant Knitting Needles in size 6- which are beautiful!

two pencils with erasers attached, one is a peach sign theme the other a hippy style flower

Solid Bubble Bath- Chamomile Bergamot scent- which is so great smelling

A shiny qauzy fabric barg with beautiful beaded fringe and a great pair of earrings inside. The earrings are silver stars and little crystals. Very beautiiiiiful. I took a pictrue of the earrings seperatly, but it didn't turn out very good and it would be an insult to these earrings (and my pal) to post such a horrible picture.

Takumi size 11 knittin needles with great polymer clay ends.

Tie Dye swanky hankies. (Little pocket tissues with a design on them) Which reminds me of folding laundry yesterday. lol I swear it went like this- blue shirt, tie dye blue shirt, blue tank top, tie dye t-shirt, blue tie dye tank top, blue shirt.... lol

and the book " The Portable Crafter: Crochet" which had me in awe as I flipped through the pages!

Now to go clean the kitchen and then see if I can make something creepy outta my halloween cookbook to feed Nick when he gets home!

To my pal- You are the greatest!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited about 4 hours later to add:
I realized I forgot to add the picture of my Carpet Warp yarn. Also after I posted I cleaned up the kitchen, ate lunch and then spun. I already spun and plyed two cheeses worth of pencil roving!!!!! I LOVE this stuff!

Socks + Harry Potter

2005-10-03T14:25:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted for a few days. Not much has really happened.

Saturday we went out for a day of fun. We saw The Corpse Bride, which I loved, but Nick didn't. We went to two yardsales were we got 4 books and a kids weaving loom for me. It isn't a peg loom, it's actually a pretty decent little loom. It has a very interesting heddle which you pull up and push down to move the threads. It's pretty nifty. We also got at various stores throughout the day:
Matrix 1 + 2 dvds
Harry Potter 1,2, + 3 dvds
A Harry Potter Gameboy game
4 Harry Potter COmputer Games- a box set with Sorcerers Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisioner of Azkaban, and Quidditch World Cup.
A BIG Mr Potato Head that is filled with other Potato Heads and pieces. It's Safari Mr P, and comes with animal parts.
And I think another thing or two that I'm forgetting.

Yesterday I placed big orders at both Knitpicks, and Mielkes. Ordered $75 worth of yarn, and $75 worth of roving. I ordered lots of sock yarns, and a variety of other yarns. I ordered some lace weight alpaca to try to make a lacy shawl. At Mielkes I order all natural colored rovings so that I can dye them myself. I also ordered the roving to spin the yarn to make my Aunt a throw.

Now I just need to go to the store and buy some yarn to make my cousins prayer shawls. I started with the idea to make one cousin one to try to help her with what she is going through right now. Then I figured each of her sisters have their own problems to. One is in New Mexico doing volunteer work, and one is 18 which is hard enough without problems. So I decided to make each of them one. I decided to use Lion Brand Homespun because it:
is thick so it works up fast
Is inexpensive (but doesn't feel cheap)
It is acrylic and machine washable but is soft and feels luxurious
Come is some natural colors that are't bright and flashy, and they are Mennonites, so flashy isn't a good idea
and it's one of my favorite yarns.

And incase you're wondering we're not rich. We don't just spend money like crazy all the time. We got a BIG refund check from our old mortgage company when we refinanced the house, and we decided to use part of it to treat ourselves.

Here's the socks I have made so far. I love the green/tan/white one. The reddish plumyish color is comfy, but not quite as nice looking.

Great Package from my SP!

2005-09-30T15:17:00.000-04:00

I got a package yesterday from my secret pal. It had lots of great stuff. Here's a picture:

Notice I didn't waste anytime using that sock yarn! It would be almost finished but I tried it on and the heel is really pointy, so I'm going to pull it out back to that point and rework it.

Thanks SP!!!!!!

Knitting? Maybe

2005-09-28T14:30:00.000-04:00

I think I might start knitting. I've done it before and never liked it because it worked up so much slower then crochet, I liked everything about it except that it was slowwwwwwwwwwwww. But now I kinda figure:
1) I already have/buy/spin yarn

2) I am always working on more then one project, no reason why I can't have a slow working knitting project and some fast going crochet projects all at once.

3) If I knit and crochet I can make everything!! (evil laugh) There won't be a pattern out there that I couldn't make.

4) I'm soooooooooo sick of website, catalogs, yarn companies, and more that only seem to have knitting patterns. Don't they know that
a) crochet is the big thing now, even famous designers are doing it
b) for every 1 knitter there are 3 crocheters
c) crocheters like fancy yarns to?
so while me knitting won't change that at least I'd be able to do all the neat patterns they create.

5) Why not? I already work with yarn?

So now I just need to buy some needles. Next time we go to target I'll probably grab some of the needles in their dollar section. They probably aren't the best needles, but they are aluminum so they can't be that bad. Plus for $1 if i decide not to knit again it's no big deal. I think after all this is said and done, I'll probably crochet more then knitting, but there is no harm in doing both.

My Hogwarts House

2005-09-27T21:53:00.000-04:00

Okay, it might sound geeky, but I am really into Harry Potter right now. I just can't get enough Hogwarts! So I started to debate which house I would be in, and was kinda town between them., since i have characteristics of all the houses, so I found the deciding factor- an online quiz, and I am offically a:

You are a Hufflepuff!

If you take this image, please link back to my quiz
on the preceding page. Thank you!

What House are you at Hogwarts? Harry Potter!
brought to you by Quizilla

Edited to add:
Okay this is getting confusing. I saw another quiz that looked a little more complex and took it, and i didn't get hufflepuff I got:

Being a brave and chivilrous person, the house for
you is GRYFFINDOR! Harry Potter, Albus
Dumbledore, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley
are a few of the many Gryffindors.

Which Hogwarts house are you in? (Harry Potter)
brought to you by Quizilla

Well I took several tests, most of the short 10 or so question ones said Gryffindor, but the quiz that looked like it would be the best sorter, over 100 questions answered using a 1-9 scale said HufflePuff. While I do have some Gryffindor traits I must admit that I am most likely a HufflePuff. So I think I'll make if "offical" I'm a HufflePuff!

Current Projects

2005-09-24T18:05:00.000-04:00

I found a project to work on. Well I made one up, but still...

So now I am working on:

The ugly test shrug pattern. I can only do a row before I get disgusted with it.

An ugly shawl. I just grabbed a funky yarn from what my mom gave me. It's a really funky vintage yarn with a combination of 70's yellow, often called Goldenrod, a little rust, some tan, and a few other colors. It's a very weird yarn. As the shawl works up I will like it, then a few rows later hate it, then like it again.

When I finish the shawl I plan on using the fuzzy fur my pal got me and trying to make a lacy shawl. I can't seem to find a good pattern for one so I am going to pretty much make it up based ona knit pattern I saw.

Here's a few tidbits of info for my pal, then I must jet to go upstairs and wait for the pizza I ordered.

1) I say Groovy. Yes I regularly say "groovy" in everyday conversation. I'm that weird.
2) Lately I find myself wanting to crochet a sweater, but I think i will chicken out. It's such a big project. Though lately I've been enoying the longer projects. Ohh I dunno.

Various Things

2005-09-22T20:49:00.000-04:00

There isn't a whole lot new going on with me. I crocheted a sock. It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. I used some vintage yarn my Mom gave me in a weird Plum shade. Nothing like crocheting a sock to realize exactly how gigantic your feet are. I don't even want to maek the matching sock because the first one is just so ugly, but unless I make another the first one is useless. The sock itself is okay I think it's the yarn I used and my gigantic feet that make it no look so good. I picked the plum color because it was the right weight and I had no idea of what else I would ever use that color for, so I decided it was worth a shot for my sock. If it turned out badly what would I be missing? One skien of yarn in an odd color. I'll have to post a picture of it sometime.

The only other thing is that one of my cousins may come to stay with us. But there is nothing certain about it. Nick and I doubt it will happen, but the offer has been put on the table. I don't even think the chances are as good as 50/50 that it will happen. But I guess we shall see.

And in crochet "news" I am in desperate need of a project. While I have stacks and stacks of patterns I've printed out I just can't seem to pick one to make. I'll find one I'm sure. Maybe I'll just pick up a hook and some yarn and make something up.

Oh and here's two things about me for my SP:
1) My favorite painter is Monet. I got to see one of his paintings at a museum once. Don't tell but I broke the rules and took a picture.

2) I love scarfs and sashs.

Some Pictures

2005-09-21T11:12:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd add a few pictures from my weekend, and the picture of my goodies.

This is me with my DH and small cousin.

My Cousin. She came walking around the corner and I snapped her picture.

My young cousin that is all grown up now. He's the one that I had to stand on tip toes for.

Me and My family. The picture is from left to right: My dad, My brother, My mom, Me, My Husband, Sunshine our dog.

My Cousin and her boys all grown up.

All the goodies I got from my secret pal.

Things About Me

2005-09-21T10:51:00.000-04:00

I realized that I haven't been saying things about me the last few days for my secret pal so I'm going to list 7 right now:

I Love fruit. My one cousin makes fun of me and says it's all I eat. I love it fresh, dried, in yougurt, stuff that is fruit flavored, coated with chocolate, and any other way I can fnd it. Except I don't eat oranges or pineapple I get migraines.

I'm naturally a blond but right now my hair is black. Before black it was a deep red, and after black it's going to be an orangey red.

I love to cook and bake.

I have my tounge pierced. It's a standard 14 gauge 5/8 inch barbell.

I'm very into the earth. I recycle everything possible, and only use 1 disposable item (paper towels) I refuse to use paper,plastic, or styrofoam plates/cups/bowls/utensils unless I HAVE to, and usually I make sure thet they get washed instead of thrown away.

I like magical stuff. Things like elves, fairies, Harry Potter, fantasy stories, etc.

I love ponchos, shawls, scarfs, and all styles of wraps.

and here's a bonus tidbit- My favorite number is 7, but if I have to pick one that's over 10 I'll say 13.

An amazing Weekend

2005-09-19T13:13:00.000-04:00

I can't remember if I explain why my parents were here or not. So I'll sum it up real fast. My Aunt moved to Hawaii when I was just an infant and her family only makes it back every few years. Well her, two of her sons, and her husband came up for two weeks. So the entire family put together another reunion to have so they could see everyone. The last time they came up and we were able to come also my one cousin was 10. I was 13. When I was laying on the couch he layed beside me comfortably and we took a quick nap.

Things have changed!!!!! This time when I hugged him I had to stand on my tippy toes (and I'm 5'8") and he picked me up off the ground!! I can't believe how big he is now!

It's so crazy that you know you get older but you can't picture other people doing the same. I knew I'm not 13 anymore but totally felt like he would still be 10 lol.

He isn't the only one that has grown. My cousin came and brought her three sons. The old isn't far from 18!! I remember him being about 4 and eating a gigantic amount of pizza! Her boys were the absolute best boys I've ever seen. They were come to the table and ask us if anyone wanted anything. She asked them to bring her a soda, and I jokingly said "me to" and they did!! Her middle son fized everyone snowcones. Her one son even brough her a plate of cookies just because!! I've never see boys be so caring and willing to fetch stuff. And these weren't kids who were young and had to help mom, they were about 12 and 14 I think. I felt so bad, all day everyone was saying her middle son Josh was Justin the youngest, even when they were standing side by side!! No one could remember there was a middle kid named Josh! Poor guy.

So I was able to see people I haven't seen in years! One cousin I don't think I've ever met, but he swears I did. I think he is mistaking me though because the year and info he used doesn't match up for it to have been me. People say my family has a strong resembelance. I've looked at pictures and thought my one younger cousin was me and looked further to see me standing elsewhere in the picture! So I think he is confused.

It was great. We had crabs, which is special to us. When my grandfather was alive he would go and buy bushels of crabs, then the whole family would eat crabs together. And I don't have a little family. My mom has 9 living brother and sisters! Most of them have about 3-4 kids! So we all ate crabs and tons of other foods, and had a good time.

I also went to church with my Mennanite cousins. It was neat. I've been wanting to go for years just to see what it was like, and I liked it. I'd never convert to their religion, but it was okay for the hour.

Also I just got a package from my secret pal! I'll have to take picture later, my camera is full of picture from the reunion and I have to upload all of them first. Bu the package includes: Holllllllllyyy Moley!! I started to open the package after I typed "It includes, and I can't believe how much was inside! It has:

Easy Crochet magazine- I was just looking at this exact issue at the book store and was about to get it!!

Some post-its that are quote balloon shaped that say "FYI It's not my fault!" Love these. From now on if stuff breaks at teh house I'll put on of these on it to tell my husband to fix it!

4 skiens of Sugar N Cream Cotton yarn! My personal favorite of everyday yarns. I got 2 whites, a lime green, and a great sagey green color that I haven't seen at the local store!

A size H Skacel Crochet hook- which looks like it's going to be just lovely to use!

A pack of Benjamin Twiggs Cherry Bing Tea (10 tea bags) and a Dove candy bar in the same bag!

4 skiens of the Rusty Red Fuzzy Fur yarn from Target!

A skein of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in a nice natural color.

1 skein of Berroco Foilage in a great green color!

A Sterling Mini Ballpoint Pen- it's black and white and feel liks a perfect weight for good writing. Did I mention that I love office supplies on my blog?! I LOVE pens and such!

and

A wonderful little unique journal!

She put alot of the stuff in clear cellaphane bags and tied it with silver star sparkling wire garland stuff. Which is neat because I don't think i said anything but I love celestial stuff, and prefer silver to gold.

This one package is more then I expected to get total and she says she has more for me! I must have the best secret pal in the whole wide world. I am so in shock to have recieved all these great things!

I think this post is getting long enough so even though I could go on and one about the reunion and my great pal I'm going to finish it up.

Oh one more thing- I got book 1 and 2 of Harry Potter this weekend!

While I wait I'll...

2005-09-16T17:54:00.000-04:00

I seem to be on a neverending hold. I was told at 5:36 that I had a wait time of 27 minutes and that if I am not answered byt eh time they close at 6 to call back!!! They don't even have the curtisy to take a message and call me back!! I have to wait half an hour, then possibly call back and probably wait another half hour!! So while I wait I decided to check my email and post here.

My parents are here. They (and my brother) arrived at about 8:15 or so this morning and driving all night. Turns out that they had to take an extra 5 hour trip to pick up my brother because he no more then left the house to meet them and his car started acting up, so he turned and went home. But they are here now. I spent the day showing my Mom all the stuff I made and trying to convince her to scrapbook, then also spun some of the best yarn while everyone napped. After my DH gets back from his bike ride we are going to Johny Rockets, a 50's style diner.

What else is new you ask? Absolutely nothing! I may be crocheting socks soon. My Secret Pal emailed me a link to a great sock pattern and said I may be getting the stuff to make it in my goody box. I might be making it sooner then that, but I guess I should wait and see what she sent my way instead.

Did I mention that my Mom brought me boxes and boxes of yarn? they have a big conversion van, and most of it was boxes of yarn. She also gave me a ballwinder that i was in desperate need of! It was so fast to ball the yarn I spun! Now I just have to sort through, see exactly what she brought me, figure out where i am going to store it, how I am going to organize it, and actually try to make stuff with it. Most of it seems to be acyrlic worsted weight, and most of what I have touched so far is a little scratchy, so I'll be using it for hats and purses and such. There is one whole box of off white "natural" colored skeins, I might try kool-aid dying one or two skiens to see exactly what happens. I dunno if you can even dye acrylic, but with a whole box why not give it a shot?

I am so excited about my wonderful secret pal. I am already just dieing to know who it is.

Oh before I forget here are two more things about me that my pal may want to know:

I Love theme restaurants!

My ultimate ever favorite singer is Fiona Apple, I have every CD of hers.

The best pal ever!

2005-09-15T20:41:00.000-04:00

Every time I've ever done a secret pal or secret sister I also get shafted. I never have a pal who actually sends me anything. He/She always flakes otu and I get nadda. It's amazing I keep doing it. BUT this pal this pal is different. My secret pal just told me she is putting a package in the mail tomorrow!! Ohhhhhh I wonder what it is!?!?!? I wonder when it will arrive!?!?!?! I wonder where in the world it is coming from!?!?

Wow having a pal who actually does stuff is so exciting!!!!

Pals

2005-09-15T15:21:00.000-04:00

I am SO excited!! I just got an email from my secret pal, which not only means someone will be spoiling me, but it means I should be getting my pal soon and be able to spoil someone. I'm going to try to post 1 or 2 little things about me every day to help my secret pal get to know me.

I realized I do have an amazon wishlist, so I updated it and everything, and then realized that I am kinda dumb about it and have no idea how to share the link! So I'll try to figure that out.

And here's two things about me:

I love both coffee and tea. I don't like sweet tea, or most iced teas, but I love most hot teas.

I love the rennasseince and medievil times. I love to read about them, and even am into costuming somewhat. Even went to Medievil Times (the theme restaurant) for my birthday!

Nerd/Geek/Dork Test

2005-09-15T10:35:00.000-04:00

Okay I took it. I'm ashamed very ashamed. But hey what can I say Geeks are Sexy. When I go to Best Buy and see the geek squad I must admit I get excited. Atleast I didn't score high on dork points!

Joe Normal
39 % Nerd, 21% Geek, 26% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.

This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.

I'd say there's a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.

Congratulations! THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 20% on nerdiness

You scored higher than 20% on geekosity

You scored higher than 33% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

Various Things

2005-09-14T11:58:00.000-04:00

Here's 10 Various things:
1) It's past time for us to get our dog spayed. Where I grew up it would cost about $50-100 or so, here about $200 at a minimum. Calling aroudn to get estimates I heard rates over $300 more often then not and even got a few $400-500!!
2) I'm still crocheting this one shrug for a pattern test program. I despise the idea of finishing it, but I must. This thing is WAY to big. It's not a shrug at all really. When I put on what I have so far it already hangs below my belly! And I still have about 3 inches left! It's like a granny shrug or something I guess. The worst part is that I have to finish it to give her pictures, but after i finish it I can't sell it, I would never in a million years probably wear it, and don't know anyonw who would like it as a gift, so I might just have to finish it then pull the entire thing back out!
3) My hair needs a re-dye. So I'll be hanging out today dyeing it.
4) My parents are visiting this weekend and we are going to my grandmothers house where I will meet atleast 1 cousin for the first time. I'll also see anotehr cousin that I've only met once when he was about 10, and he just graduated highschool!!
5) I still haven't gotten my secret pal assigned for various technical reasons apparently, but I am waiting paitently.
6) I am so psyched about being in SP6. I even already have something for my pal.
7) When my parents coem we are going to Johny Rockets, a fun 50's diner that has the BEST chicken club.
8) I may get a job as a nanny. I don't really know anything yet though.
9) Saturday the dog split my lip. I thought i needed stitched, but eventually the bleeding stopped. Now I just have this big spot where my lip is white and is healing.
10) I have no idea what else to say.

A crazy Wishlist

2005-09-12T12:33:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when I am broke I'll go pretend shopping, filling my shopping cart up with everything I love then empty it instead of checking out. Today I decided to work on some of my wishlists instead. I think if given the opportunity I would buy almost everything at knitpicks.com think I'm exagerating? Look at this wishlist:
Alicia's Wish List
Qty Cost Subtotal Item ID Description
2 $3.69 $7.38 23550 Tropics
2 $3.69 $7.38 23552 Sunset
2 $3.69 $7.38 23549 Snapdragon
2 $3.69 $7.38 23704 Forest
2 $3.69 $7.38 23706 Gumballs
2 $3.69 $7.38 23709 Blues
2 $3.99 $7.98 23478 Spring Prairie
2 $3.99 $7.98 23641 Paper Dolls
2 $3.99 $7.98 23642 Easter
2 $3.99 $7.98 23643 Gladiolus
2 $3.99 $7.98 23645 Hawaii
2 $3.99 $7.98 23648 Fly Fishing
10 $2.99 $29.90 23417 Natural White Wool of the Andes
3 $1.99 $5.97 23602 Light Blue
3 $1.99 $5.97 23605 Orange
3 $1.99 $5.97 23606 Blue
3 $1.99 $5.97 23608 Yellow
3 $2.29 $6.87 23613 Cherry
3 $2.29 $6.87 23615 Cream
3 $2.29 $6.87 23616 Cloud
3 $2.29 $6.87 23617 Green Apple
3 $2.29 $6.87 23618 Grass
3 $2.29 $6.87 23619 Turquoise
3 $2.29 $6.87 23621 Sky
3 $2.29 $6.87 23622 River
3 $2.29 $6.87 23623 Seaside
3 $2.29 $6.87 23626 Harvest
3 $2.29 $6.87 23627 Candy
3 $3.79 $11.37 23563 Melon
3 $3.79 $11.37 23564 Pistachio
3 $3.79 $11.37 23565 Sunshine
3 $3.79 $11.37 23566 Turquoise
3 $3.79 $11.37 23568 Tangerine
3 $3.79 $11.37 23569 Ocean
3 $4.29 $12.87 23571 Jeans
3 $4.29 $12.87 23572 Wading Pool
3 $4.29 $12.87 23574 Rafting
3 $4.29 $12.87 23575 Hiking
2 $4.99 $9.98 23578 Pansy
2 $4.99 $9.98 23579 Lagoon
2 $4.99 $9.98 23580 Jeans
2 $4.99 $9.98 23583 Sunset
2 $4.99 $9.98 23586 Tropics
1 $4.99 $4.99 23640 Bronze
1 $4.99 $4.99 23630 Lime
1 $4.99 $4.99 23631 Ocean Blue
1 $4.99 $4.99 23632 Tangerine
1 $4.99 $4.99 23635 Ruby
1 $4.99 $4.99 23636 Khaki
1 $4.99 $4.99 23637 Twilight
1 $4.99 $4.99 23639 Emerald
1 $4.99 $4.99 23629 Lemon
1 $5.49 $5.49 23600 Broadway Lights
1 $5.49 $5.49 23596 Parrot
1 $5.49 $5.49 23597 Spumoni
1 $5.49 $5.49 23598 Beach Ball
1 $5.49 $5.49 23599 Daydream
2 $3.99 $7.98 23672 Ocean
2 $3.99 $7.98 23675 Fern
2 $3.99 $7.98 23676 Blueberry
2 $3.99 $7.98 23677 Apricot
2 $3.99 $7.98 23678 Twilight
2 $3.99 $7.98 23679 Strawberry
1 $4.99 $4.99 23542 Maple Leaf
1 $4.99 $4.99 23543 Deep Woods
1 $4.99 $4.99 23544 Morning Mist
2 $4.99 $9.98 23546 Turquoise Splendor
1 $4.99 $4.99 23539 Happy Dance
1 $6.49 $6.49 23680 Grass
1 $6.49 $6.49 23682 Pumpkin
1 $6.49 $6.49 23683 Cream
1 $6.49 $6.49 23684 Cranberry
1 $6.49 $6.49 23685 Woods
1 $6.49 $6.49 23686 Fog
1 $6.49 $6.49 23688 Midnight
1 $6.49 $6.49 23689 Rust
1 $6.49 $6.49 23690 Moss
1 $6.49 $6.49 23691 Summer Sky
1 $6.49 $6.49 23756 Twilight
1 $6.49 $6.49 23757 Spring Leaf
1 $6.49 $6.49 23758 Winter Berry
1 $6.49 $6.49 23761 Tide
1 $6.49 $6.49 23762 Chocolate
1 $6.49 $6.49 23763 Tan
2 $1.79 $3.58 23425 Cranberry
2 $1.79 $3.58 23422 Winter Night
2 $1.79 $3.58 23428 Blueberry
2 $1.79 $3.58 23421 Spruce
2 $1.79 $3.58 23427 Evergreen
2 $1.79 $3.58 23429 Snickerdoodle
2 $1.79 $3.58 23426 Maple Syrup
2 $1.79 $3.58 23424 Chestnut
2 $1.79 $3.58 23420 Coal
2 $1.79 $3.58 23774 Chocolate
2 $1.79 $3.58 23773 Tan
2 $1.79 $3.58 23775 Fog
2 $1.79 $3.58 23431 Tomato
2 $1.79 $3.58 23434 Stream
3 $1.79 $5.37 23439 Grass
3 $1.79 $5.37 23433 Fern
2 $1.79 $3.58 23436 Daffodil
2 $1.79 $3.58 23430 Pumpkin
2 $1.79 $3.58 23435 Carrot
2 $1.79 $3.58 23432 Cloud
2 $1.79 $3.58 23438 Mist
2 $1.79 $3.58 23764 Red
2 $1.79 $3.58 23765 Iron Ore
2 $1.79 $3.58 23769 Chambray
2 $1.79 $3.58 23768 Rain
2 $1.79 $3.58 23767 Asparagus
3 $1.79 $5.37 23766 Avocado
2 $1.79 $3.58 23442 Hyacinth
3 $1.79 $5.37 23440 Blue Bonnet
2 $1.79 $3.58 23441 Wheat
1 $1.79 $1.79 23730 Cream
1 $1.79 $1.79 23731 Ash
1 $1.79 $1.79 23732 Fog
1 $1.79 $1.79 23733 Mist
1 $1.79 $1.79 23734 Wood
1 $1.79 $1.79 23735 Fawn
1 $1.79 $1.79 23736 Tan
1 $1.79 $1.79 23737 Bark
1 $1.79 $1.79 23738 Nutmeg
1 $1.79 $1.79 23739 Twig
1 $1.79 $1.79 23722 Blue
1 $1.79 $1.79 23723 Pool
1 $1.79 $1.79 23724 Sky
1 $1.79 $1.79 23725 Green
1 $1.79 $1.79 23726 Grass
1 $1.79 $1.79 23727 Mint
1 $1.79 $1.79 23728 White
1 $1.79 $1.79 23729 Black
3 $2.29 $6.87 23463 Moss
3 $2.29 $6.87 23464 Storm
3 $2.29 $6.87 23451 Asparagus
3 $2.29 $6.87 23452 Tide Pool
3 $2.29 $6.87 23459 Frost
3 $3.29 $9.87 23510 Lettuce; Andean Silk
3 $3.29 $9.87 23512 Mustard; Andean Silk
3 $3.29 $9.87 23515 Olive; Andean Silk
3 $3.29 $9.87 23516 Pitch; Andean Silk
3 $3.29 $9.87 23517 Navy; Andean Silk
3 $3.29 $9.87 23519 Slate; Andean Silk
3 $3.29 $9.87 23776 Pool
3 $3.29 $9.87 23779 Leaf
2 $3.29 $6.58 23780 Hollyberry
2 $3.29 $6.58 23781 Cranberry
3 $3.29 $9.87 23508 Bluebell; Andean Silk
3 $3.29 $9.87 23520 Cream; Andean Silk
3 $3.29 $9.87 23521 Poppy Field; Andean Silk Twist
3 $3.29 $9.87 23522 Pumpkin Patch; Andean Silk Twist
3 $3.29 $9.87 23523 Prairie; Andean Silk Twist
3 $3.29 $9.87 23524 Sunset; Andean Silk Twist
3 $3.79 $11.37 23483 Lagoon
3 $3.79 $11.37 23485 Sunset
3 $3.79 $11.37 23487 Moss
3 $3.79 $11.37 23492 Summer Sky
3 $3.79 $11.37 23494 Mystery
2 $4.49 $8.98 23787 Leaf
2 $4.49 $8.98 23788 Tide
2 $4.49 $8.98 23790 Pool
2 $4.49 $8.98 23791 Bud
2 $4.49 $8.98 23792 Lettuce
1 $3.79 $3.79 23665 Caribbean
1 $3.79 $3.79 23667 Blue Jeans
1 $3.79 $3.79 23669 Trail
1 $3.79 $3.79 23670 Leprechaun
1 $3.79 $3.79 23671 Rose Garden
1 $2.29 $2.29 23660 Jewels
1 $2.29 $2.29 23661 Sunset
1 $2.29 $2.29 23663 Lost Lake
1 $3.99 $3.99 23497 Horizon
1 $3.99 $3.99 23500 Sunlight
1 $3.99 $3.99 23501 Moss
2 $3.99 $7.98 23502 Tide Pool
2 $3.99 $7.98 23503 Stream
1 $3.99 $3.99 23504 Autumn
1 $3.99 $3.99 23505 Midnight

Total: $1,141.08

Believe me now??

I have the best hubby ever

2005-09-11T16:45:00.000-04:00

I've been craving sausage gravy with biscuits, it's this whole thing of missing my parents, so today he made it for me. It was no where near what my daddy makes, but it was good and I have to credit him for it.

Then we went out, he bought me roses from the guy on the corner, then drove me to AC moore so I could buy the yarn I've been needing for a crochet alogn that started a week ago. They didn't even have the yarn!!! I don't know where else to look for it, and if I ordered it online the crochet along would be over by the time it came! SO no crochet along this time.

I am totally psyched because secret pals will be given out soon.

I have a killer headache so I'll post pictures of my roses and hibernate a little awhile.

SP6 Questionnaire

2005-09-07T20:46:00.000-04:00

Here's is my answers to the sp6 questionnarie. I hope this helps my secret pal, and i hope it doesn't get buried in other posts before she is able to read it.

I edited this quite a while later (abotu a week I think it's been) to add to some of my answers, and get the titles for a few things.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I am somewhat. I love the fancy stuff and but it whenever I can, but Lion brand is one of my favorite brands. I do however rarely ever use red heart, just because it is so scratchy. I'll usually buy the TLC if I need "the regular stuff"

2. Do you spin? Crochet? I do spin, and I only crochet, I don't knit.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) I do have a few scents allergies, the trick is for me to stay away from anything spicy scented. I'm also allergic to smoke, but it shouldn't affect me if my yarn smells like it, though I would prefer if it didn't.

4. How long have you been knitting? Umm never. I crochet, I've been rocheting on an off most since I was about, but been taking it seriously sicen about March.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No not yet, but I suppose I ccould create one.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) The Clean Linen/Cotton smell. I also love berry smells, any fruity smells, and "hippy" natural smells like frankincense, patchouli, myrrh, etc

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Oh yes, the worst you've ever seen!!

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Scrapbooking, a little bit of stamping, I make candles sometimes, I sew, I make clothes, I do pretty much everything.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I like alternative, acoustic, female artists (cool ones like macy gray, fiona apple, tori amos, etc) I also like disco, and various musci fromt eh 60's-70's including Jimi and Janis. And yes I can play mp3s

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? I LOVE blue, all shades. I also like natural colors, greens, olives, browns. I liek teal, turquoise, and so many more. I like pretty much all colors except I HATE purple, and dislike pink.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I am married, it'll be 2 yars October 19th, and no kids yet, but we do have two cats and a rotten horrible dog.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) I want to own a store. It's a cool hippy store that sells herbs, incense, cool clothes, handmade soaps, ren fair supplies, and alot more. But that a long term thing, my dream right now is to get my design business going.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? I love them all I think. I use alot of the 100% cotton sugar n cream, and I love the fancy stuff to. I love the Lion Homespun. I pretty much use everything.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? None really, I don't much care for the scratchy Red Heart and similiar stuch stuff, but still use it occasionally.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? My current crochet obsession is to make thin belt/scarf dealies. I make them about 1-2 inches thick out of various fancy yarns then they can be worn like a tie belt, a scarf, a tie, a hippy style headband, and more. I am also obsessing about the idea of crocheting a sweater and some socks. I'm really obsessed with the yarn that is made from recycled silk saris, I managed ot get a lot of 21 on ebay and use it constantly.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? The belt things, hats I make a ton of hats, and am getting into purses.

17. What are you knitting right now? I am crocheting a shrug for a pattern test program.

18. What do you think about ponchos? I LOVE them, I even wore them before they were cool.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Well crochet needles only come in straights so...

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Anything but plastic, I've yet to fine a plastic hook that moved smoothly. I'm also really dieing for these ones that are made out of silver from the Celtic Swan Forge

21. Are you a sock knitter?Nope, I'll never be a sock knitter, but someday I may crochet a pair.

22. How did you learn to knit? I learned to crochet years ago, when I was about 12-13 and I begged my mom to teach me how. I wanted to make a granny square afghan, she managed to make the entire thing before I finished my first square. No matter what I do it is impossible for me to make a granny square that is actually square!

23. How old is your oldest UFO? UFO what UFO? Why would i have an alien spacecraft just hanging around?

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Favorite animated character? hummm Probably one of the Simpsons, or someone from Family Guy (stewie) or a King of the Hill cast member, I also like bubbles from the Power Puff girls, and I think that's it. My favorite animals are cats, dogs, ferrets, sheep (since I started spinning I've just been so in love with sheep) dolpins, manatees, whales, I think I like them all.

25. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween.

26. Is there anything that you collect? Yeah sure there is just a thing or two. Mr Potato Head (and Mrs, and the kiddos,) coins from foreign contries, Fairies somewhat, and I think I'm forgetting some stuff, I'll post it later.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Crochet magazines- none yet, other magazines 20+ varies ones. I haven't found a crochet magazine that I'd like to subscribe to. I only make wearble art, and nothing really cutesy, and the main things in magazine don't fit those two ideas. I do subscribe to Spin Off, but want to subscribe to Fiberarts, and wouldn't mind getting handwoven.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Series of Unfortunate Events book 6 and up, The Girls in Pants book 2 and 3, and I want to start reading Harry Potter (I suppose this is the main one) So I need book 1 of that. And the second book in the series about the yarn shop, I can't remember the name of it either, A Good Yarn maybe?

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another?? No not that I know of.

And on a completely different note I am no longer allowing comments on the site. I am getting ad after ad and it is just driving me crazy!! So I disabled them and am going to find a guestbook or something that I can edit a little easier. While I am editing this let me add that I did get a guest book, it's in the right hand margin below the links above the previous post list.

Zine Contributors Needed

2005-09-07T19:45:00.000-04:00

I'm starting my next two zines and am looking for contributors. If you'd like to contribute then I'd love to have you! Here's what I'm looking for:

Crafters and Designers- I'm working on a crafty/diy zine and would love any stories, projects, articles, etc. I'd love to have various contributors for patterns and instructions, but if you'd rather put an article I can agree to that. Anything related to being crafty, making stuff, diy, etc is welcome. Some article topics are how you got into doing what you do, how art shapes your daily life, etc. This may become a regular thing depending on how it goes. If you make something small or want to includes some sort of sample product I'll include it with the zine. Some examples are sample soap slivers, fabric swatch or two, a button/badge, etc.

Anyone interested: I want to hear about 1 day in your life. I want about 2 pages of info about just any regular day. For example:Today I woke up at xx and ate dot dot for breaskfast. Here's how I made it (Instructions for your breakfast, if you had cereal still make instructions, "pick up cereal box, pour into bowl..."If you make something that day I want instructions, or atleast details (i know some of you obviously can't describe exactly how you make your products) I want the recipe for what you make for dinner. Or maybe you prefer a 9:00 I ... 9:15 I ... approach. Just do what feels right and send it to me.

If you'd like to contribute just email me at somethingelsestamper@msn.com

All contributors will get a free copy of the zine, as well as advertising in the zine both like a regular ad and with your contribution.

The planned finish date on these zines is December 15th.

2005-09-04T19:43:00.000-04:00

Today Nick, my husband for those who don't know already, and I went out for some us time. We saw Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo, then bought some new books, went to dinner, and tried to get me to the yarn store, but they close at 6 and we got there at 6:03. I need to get this one particular yarn for my new crochet-along, which I am really excited to be doing, once I can actually get started.

So the movie was good. Sentimental in an odd way because our first kiss was in Deuce Bigalow 1, and here we are years later, married, seeing the second one.

At the book store I got the Purpose Driven Life, something I've been curious about, The Secret Lives of Bees, and The Notebook. Nick got (I was actually going to get it but when I saw him pick it up I decided to let him think it was his idea) a dragon book called Eragon. I wanted to get the first Harry Potter book and try to get started on that whole series, but I didn't make it that far before I already had an arm load full.

After we tried to go to the yarn store we got dinner. Then went to Target. I had completely forgotton at that point the fact that I read somewhere that had some yarn and knitting stuff now in the dollar days section. Everything was a dollar. It was the first thing we saw when we walked in the door. They had a few crochet hooks, one that looked like straight up crap. I wouldn't pay a quarter for them. They were really cheap looking bamboo, cheaper looking then cheap bamboo skewers, then dyed with blue to bring out the horrible condition of the wood I suppose. They did have metal, decent looking I suppose But I'm not a knitter, knitting needles, each paid in a plastic tube, and ever pair no matter what size the exact shade of green. The yarn took up most of the section. They had regular worsted weight, and some fancier stuff. All in all you could probably find a better deal elsewhere, but I loved some of the colors and textures so I just had to buy some. Here's what I got:

From top to bottom the details are-
tan boucle 1.7 oz 90 yards
a bright boucle, same oz and length
a lime-lemon green yellow boucle, same specs
a blueish-green color "funky fringe" 1 oz, 90 yards
a funky red/orange/rusty colored "fuzzy fur" .4 oz 65 yards

The boucles are a decent amount of yarn, the fuzzy stuff is only a tiny amount. I figure for $1 I can make a decent skinny scarf. Lately I've been in love with skinny scarves that are only abut 1-2" wide so they can be worn as a scarf, a belt, a hippy style headband, or any other number of ways. So for $5 I can make 5 of them. Or combine all 5 and make 1 very mix-matched larger item.

And that is the sum up of my day. If you blogged about your day today, I'd love to read it, just post the link in the comments section.

2005-09-03T17:56:00.000-04:00

Here's a few random pictures (with stories) for you. A variety of images from the last two days.

My newest creation, still in the process of balling. I LOVE this yarn!! I was going to ply it, but after I did a few yards decided I actually liek it better in singles after all.

Here's a close-Up for you:

Here' a picture of Sunshine. I looked over to make sure she was still behaving and saw that apparently she had gotten chilly in her nap, so she pulled the cover off the back of the chair to warm up a bit!

And the last two. After Nick brought home his new Riot Gear from work, I just had to try it all on. It was HOT and so heavy. After I put most of it on (including the jock strap! lol) I got a few pictures of how I would look before running out for a riot, tough face and all. I'd better run out left side first, I never did put on the other leg and arm piece. And my head felt liek it was about to crack off and roll away after puttign that helmet on. I promise I'm not that ugly in real life.

And in other news: As far as we know right now Nick won't be going to New Orleans. They already selected who they wanted to go. And I'm not getting a copier after all.

2005-09-01T16:36:00.000-04:00

Several Indie sites are teaming up to make a donation to the Katrina victims. I plan on taking all of my available items, and putting them on the sale site. All the proceeds go to the cause. Check out all the donated items at
http://craftrevolution.etsy.com/ to see what you can buy to help the cause. Also read more about the efforts and donators at http://craftrevolution.com/craftersunited.htm

I don't know how much I can say, but I may also be donating my DH to the cause for 14-30 days.

I try to never watch the news (for lots of reasons), so when my husband told me it was just declared martial law there I figured I better read about it more. I honestly had no idea it was that bad. Please pray, chant, light candles, whatever it is that your religion does for all of these victims and the people who are volunteering to go help, and their families. If you can afford to make a donation (or spend your money on a great item that will benefit the cause) please do.

2005-09-01T14:07:00.000-04:00

I forgot one:

8) Sunday I am going to get a copier!!! It's slightly older, but works fine and was FREE in the paper! No more trying to go to the copy shop for my zines!

2005-09-01T14:01:00.000-04:00

Just a little update:

Here's some updates in my life for you:
1) I joined Secret Pal 6. I'm excited!
2) Saturday I quit my job, because I was fed up, and had another job pretty much lined up.
3) I just found out today that I for sure got the job, but can't start for 90 days!!
4) So I need to find a job to work for 90 days.
5) I need to make: A tie, some purses, some more hats, and a particular scarf
6) and something else that I completely forgot (because I was just forced to take care of several things in before moving from 5 to 6)
7) still no poncho pics but I swear they are coming!

2005-08-31T15:07:00.000-04:00

I decided to sell/trade more and keep less so here are more hats. And I swear I am going to get the ponchos up soon!

And the Gray Rolled Brim hat is spoken for. It's new owner is the lovely lady from Mystic Spiral. The link to here blog is going to be in the links in a matter of minutes.

Here's some of today's offerings:
This hat is very small, like kid sized, and is made from black acrylic yarn. It has a granny square pattern to it. The little fluff sticking up is long since taken care of, it sticks up no longer. $15

Crystal- a 100% cotton hat with a great girly girl look. Adult sized. This hat will include a free button flower or butterfly pin, in my choice of color/style. $20

More to come!

2005-08-30T15:24:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to make a quick post to say the Puff N Stuff hat is spoken for.Once it's matching scarf is made it will go home to the lovely owner of Mia's Treasures. Check out her incredible jewelry on here website in the links section!

Hopefully the poncho pictures will be coming tonight.

2005-08-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

Here's some picture of my new wheel which I love!!
Here's the yarn I am spinning right now on it. When I first got my wheel I did about a yard worth of roving on the one bobbin to get use to my wheel. It's the purpleish blueish bobbin on the lazy kate in the wheel picture. This yarn is my first attempt to make actual yarn with the wheel.

And 1 more picture. The last week (!!) I've been making this one hat. I LOVE this hat. I LOVE the yarn it was made out of. I'm just to used to finished a project the same day I started it. This hat is one of my longest running projects. And it is finally finished!! Even done shaping, and came of the mannaquin head today! The debut of my new hat, and it's has to be mine because there is no way I am going to sell it:

I used "Marble" yarn, which was a marl yarn where two colors are plyed together, then the gentle color changes in the yarn made the stripes of the hat. $5 a skien and worth every penny. One skien made this whole hat (which is very tight sc) and has enough left over to make atleast a choker or flower pin.

I just quit my job Saturday, so there will be more spinning, crocheting, and fiber stuff in my future for a few weeks.

Nick is going to help me take pictures of my ponchos and shawls tonight, then I hope to get them uploaded on here tonight or tomorrow. I'm going to model them to show how they drape, and he's going to snap a photo which will conveinently cut my head out. I have atleast 3 ponchos, and atleast 1 shawl for sale, then I have 1 shawl that isn't for sale.

And this is completely off the subject but last night I made roasted chicken for dinner, and for the first time ever in life I made gravy. And that a gravy it was!!! It was the best gravy I ever had. I guess I'm just a natural. Now I have to go try not to think about what I am doing while I pull all the remaining meat of the bones fo the chicken in the fridge to make stew. If you know me you know I can't stand even looking at meat that is on the bone.

2005-08-25T12:28:00.000-04:00

In all my excitement I forgot to say my wheel came!!!!!!!! I am now the proud owner of a Loeut S10 wheel. Now if only I can figure out how to work it right.

2005-08-25T00:20:00.000-04:00

Okay get ready for photo overload- Here is everything I have made that is now for sale (or trade):

Above is the Puff N Stuff Hat. Made in Black acrylic yarn. Accented with rows of the Puff Stitch. The brim can be kept down (like shown) to fit like a bucket hat, or folded up. The shadows in the picture make it look like it is shaped funny, but I promise you it isn't. SOLD!

Below is just a plain Rolled Brim hat. Made from Super Soft gray acrylic yarn. It's shapeable so you can roll it up, smoosh it around, or whatever you feel like doing to get a different look. $15

The Black hat below is made from Black acyrlic yarn. It's somewhat of a girly hat. It's a little on the small side, but I have a big head and thick hair and it isn't uncomfortably tight or anything. $15

The scarf below is made out of 100% cotton yarn. It's nice and long and somewhat thin. (exact measurements to come) It has irregular stripes of Lime Green and a bright Turqouise. $15

This is a loose fitting head cover for adding a super feminine flair to your outfit. It's made of a groovy creamy colored yarn. It's a two shades of creamy white together. This is very loose and needs to be held on with hair pins. $15

And here again is the Silk Amulet bag, I am just relisting it so it is with the others. It is exactly the same bag as before. Made of yarn that is made from recycled silk sari's in the Himalyas. Each skien of the yarn is different so no two bags will ever be exactly alike. This bag is about 4x5" and the strap is long enough to carry it over your shoulder or around your neck like and amulet bag. The second picture is a close-up to show the great colors in this yarn. $15

Those are all for now. I still have some ponchos and such to photograph. If you are interested in buying anything or bartering just email me using the link on the right of the screen. Oh and on a different note, the Cloud Hat is no longer available. Okay honestly, I decided I wanted to keep it for myself. lol. All prices listed include shipping.

2005-08-23T19:24:00.000-04:00

Well I came up with a name for my business. Odd Little Duck. I've been called that most of my life so why not? My wheel is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I can't wait!!

And on a completely different note, I wonder if anyone reads my blog??

2005-08-21T22:59:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I think I am going to do the contest because I really need to start building a website, making business cards, and such, but I can't do anything until I have a name. So here's the deal, I am going to describe my business as it is now and what it will be, and I want everyone to try to come up with a cool name for it. If I pick the name you come up with then you can pick any item for free. I'll be posting more pictures in the meantime of available products. You can list more then one idea, list as many as you want, just post it in the comments section.

So here's all the details:
My name is Alicia Simon if you want to work that in somehow. I want the name to be sassy, bold, fun, funky, etc. Right now I crochet items (purses, hats, ponchos, capelets, scarves, etc) and am going to shortly start sewing items as well (all sorts of things like shirts, pants, skirts, purses, etc.) About 99% of the stuff I make is from my own patterns and in fancy yarn, so it isn't just regular, old, basic, acrylic yarn, stuff. Eventually I am getting a weaving loom and will be selling woven items as well. I also make jewelry. So I pretty much make all things wearable. If you can wear it (or carry it in the case of a purse) then I make it, and if you can't wear it I don't. The main problem I am having is finding a name that isn't specific to a craft, like I can easily come up with names for a crochet business or sewing business, but I do both. If you need more info or have a question just let me know.

So any ideas?

2005-08-21T10:02:00.000-04:00

Still no good mail, which is starting to piss me off because I have been waiting almost a month for my roving from Canada, but the excitement is kicking in that my Louet will be here Weds.

So my packages expected are:
2 Crochet Books, which really should be here any day
My Louet- coming by UPS and tracked coming Weds
Tons of roving from Canada- which includes mulberry silk, silk noil, south african top, and some wool

And for no good reason (other then the fact that I LOVE them) here are pictures of my animals:

The Dog is "Sunshine." The Cat who fell asleep watching TV is "Nomie." And the elegant cat is "Stampy"

2005-08-19T15:03:00.000-04:00

The last two or so days have sucked mail wise. I haven't gotten anything good since my roving and hooks came. I have already made one skien of funky chunky yarn with my new roving. I used "City Lights," the red, orange, and purple one, to make a funky thick and thin yarn. I really like it. I want to make some more. I might make a purse, scarf, hat, or belt out of it. I still need to get a picture of it to put up. Maybe later or tomorrow.

My spinning wheel has shipped, but isn't expected to arrive until Wednesday, according to the tracking info.

I have an almost finished shawl. It's made out of Divine yarn, and it ended up somewhat small, so I am going to add a button and such and make it where you button it on. I'll be adding pictures of that soon to.

I'm also thinking of having a contest. To make a long complicated story short: I can't think fo a name for my new business and was thinking of having a naming contest, with the winner getting any 1 product they want for free. I still haven't decided yet.

Here's hoping for better mail tomorrow! (for everyone)

2005-08-16T18:39:00.000-04:00

I haven't put an item up for sale yet today so here is my one of a kind Cloud Hat. I made this up as I went along, and didn't write down the pattern so there will never be another one like it. It is made out of an acrylic yarn that is super soft and as fluffy as a cloud. It is shaped like a regular bucket hat, but for some reason it look funny shaped in the picture. You can also fold the brim up and such. It's $15 which includes shipping in the US.

2005-08-16T18:38:00.000-04:00

I just did my first plyed skein last night. I had a bit of a hard time with breakage and it ended up as a somewhat small skien. It's about sport weight at 14 wpi. This is only my third whole skien. Before this skien I did two skiens of single plys, and a few tiny skien with sample rovings.
I'm pretty proud of it. It's about enough for a skinny scarf if I do it very loosely, or maybe a small bag.

Here is a skien of single ply left over after I plyed what I could together.

Here are my first two skiens, the solid green was my first skein and I was going for a loopy funky novelty yarn, the multi-color is my second skien.

2005-08-15T18:28:00.000-04:00

Today was a great mail day. I got 2 pounds worth of various fibers that I won on ebay. Aren't they beautiful?!?! They are from Jehovah Jireh Farm, who I will be adding to my links section. The blue blue one is Summer Sky. The pale green and pink combo is "Dinner Mints" and is part golden retriever! The purple, red, and pink combo is City Lights. The tealish combo is Mountain Stream. The red and yellow combo is a sample they sent of Ketchup and Mustard. I can't wait to spin all of these.

I also got a batch of hooks. 21 various hooks in different sizes from an eBay auction. The hooks aren't anything special or fancy, just regular old metal hooks.

I also took pictures of my various completed items that are for sale. I'm going to try to add 1 or 2 items a day until they are all up. Here's the first one:

This is an enlarged amulet bag, or small purse. It's about 3-4"x4-5" and is made out of recycled silk. The yarn is made in the Himilayas from the mill ends of silk saris. The sari pieces are spun together to make a unique yarn. No two of the yarns are ever the same. The strap on the bag is long enough to carry it as a purse. The bag itself is big enough to hold maybe some keys, some cash, and a few other small items for a day out. It's $15 which includes shipping to anywhere in the US.

2005-08-15T03:22:00.000-04:00

Hi! My name is Alicia, but in my creative endeavors I've always been Cheerio. I love to crochet and have a love affair with yarn. When the yarn at the store just wasn't enough I started spinning my own. I've only been spinning a few weeks, but you would never guess that. I am so into it. I've been using spindles, my third spindle came Friday, but have a Louet S10 coming my way any day now.

In my crochet I tend to only make things you can wear. I love to make hats and scarves, but I also make capelets, ponchos, purses, etc. I'm trying to slowly start my own design company. I am trying to start selling my crocheted items, then eventually add sewn items, and even eventually handwoven items. I also might sell handspun yarn and handdyed roving/batts once I get my own supply built up enough.

So the point of this blog is to:
a) talk about my wheel, spindles, spinning, crocheting, etc
b) offer various items for sale
c) show current projects and finished projects
d) show off my handspun yarn
e) share an occasional pattern

Thanks for visiting!

let's see:
your name
do you smoke?
do you drink?
stronger drugs?
your favourite activity
you are	Such a character
you wish you were	A gangster
you hope	It's not too late
people think you are	Shy
intelligent people though, think you are	A mistery unsolved
but, really, you're just	Quite lost

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