Ubercrafty

A kindred spirit

I know I just cast on the Owl Sweater AND I started another long skinny scarf, but I saw the Shalom cardigan on Soulemama's blog and I MUST MAKE THIS. Also, look at the last picture of her on that post and tell me that couldn't totally be me (minus the adorable baby): the scarf, the cardigan, the ORANGE skirt, the killer boots. 

tomorrow, I am going to wear the new Fryes with a skirt and try to be all cute and artsy. I'll let you know if I succeed. and yes, i realize this is not a crafting post. I am drowning in stress and self-doubt, connecting the camera to upload pictures is too much.

purchases

I've sort of been down in the dumps, overwhelmed with stress. so I've been shopping.

On friday, after chopping all my hair off, i bought these:

 

the color is slate, in real life, it's a tad more charcoal. I love 'em. Had them on since I walked out of the store (with a pair of short booties as well. it was a BAD day). then I got home and realized that A) I have put on a good 12 to 15 lbs and most of my jeans are now freakishly uncomfortable to wear and B), my jeans are all boot-cuts and will only fit OVER the new cool boots.

So Sunday I used my nifty 30% off coupon at Gap and bought 3 pairs of "skinny" straight legs (1 jeans, 1 cords) to fit INSIDE the boots. It's still a tight fit, given the fat calves, but it works.

And to make this remotely craft related, I also dragged the kids to the yarn store where I bought this:

 

the color is called Cabin Fever. it's a fabulous variegation of autumn colors. It's not for me. It's got a good recipient and pattern in mind. Stay tuned.

hoot hoot

today, I cast something on for myself. OK, I just made that whole Entrelac set for myself. But that was more as an excersise to learn the technique. This is really for me, just for the pleasure of making it but also wearing it.

I'm making mine in a fabulous eco-wool in brown. I'll let you know how it turns out.

the charity red hat is finished. I'll try to remember to get a picture of it and post it later on. On a day when I have not much to say, like today!

hell is decorated in melting beads

 Who thought that melting/fusing beads should become the craft of choice? Why are they everywhere? Because frankly, they drive me bonkers! First of all, yes, it's sort of fun, if you have dexterity. But my 4 y.o.? She spends an hour at the table and gets about 8 beads on the board. And the 6 y.o. will make 10 hearts during that time, but will then insist that I iron them, IMMEDIATELY, and inevitable, someone will knock one over before I get the iron hot and then stupid beads, everywhere.

Not to mention how much I love having the hot iron on the table with the kids....

And I haven't actually purchased any of these, not once. Dumpling got a few kits as presents, someone brought a giant bucket as a hostess present (WTF?) and most recently, we inherited 3.5 buckets and about 24 shapes from my SIL who banished them now that her kids are grown. Oh, and I forget the 3D princess castle kit that BB got for her 4th bday. I've been working on the pieces for that since August, we are nowhere near done.

The hat from yesterday is done, but the rest of my day was spend fusing plastic.

progress

casting on, again

I'm between projects, again. In the past couple of months, I have been compulsively knitting to deal with stress. This week, things with Dumpling and her school sent me even further over the edge and I found myself frozen, unable to knit. 

My knitting group meets at the same coffee shop every Wednesday, so we decided that for the holidays, we would each knit one gender-neutral item, put everything in the a basket and give it to the staff of the shop to choose from. I happen to have one nice skein of Manos Del Uruguay in the wrong color, so I figured I would make a hat, which I cast on last weekend.

But I haven been totally unable to make progress on it. I take it everywhere with me, I've committed the texture pattern to memory, but yet, there it sat, still only with the rib edge.... Today, I did knit. About 12 rows. And tonight, I took a closer look. Totally messed up. On row 3, I'm supposed to knit 2, not 1, at the beginning of each row to stagger the texture. I didn't, and now I had a ladder of holes.... I just ripped the entire thing and am casting on, again.

I need to get my rhythm back

the iv kept me from knitting

It was another totally craft-less day today. Even though it's Wednesday an I went to my weekly stich-and-bitch, it was preceeded and followed by a hematologist appointment and a 3 hour iron infusion. I cannot knit with an IV, and during the knitting coffee-clatch, I couldn't concentrate and didn't pick up my project.

sorry, I'll do better tomorrow.

glitter glitter everywhere

Another day without a stitch. While i spent the afternoon putting out fires at work, my morning was very very crafty: I supervised a bunch of 6 y.o. girls who had no school today and used my house as the central playdate location. Do you have any idea how much glitter-glue and sparkles was used in my house today?

At some point, from the bathroom, I heard "There is glitter on my bum!". Seriously.

Not exactely the kind of crafting I usually go for, but at least i'm still keeping up with Nablopomo!

pretty balls

I didn't knit a single stitch today. it was a crazy day of parent-teacher interviews (shockingly upsetting) and work related stress, then violin lesson (BB plays the violin! and she's really good!). At no point did I get to pick up the sticks. The blue scarf is on the way to its recipient and I didn't get a chance to read my next pattern.

so instead, today, I wound some balls. With my new-but-used ball winder. I bought it on Ebay a few weeks ago after a fun time googling Ball Winders..... I'll let you enjoy that one! It did lead to a few funny Facebook exanges about winding balls and pretty balls and blue balls.... yes, sometimes, I'm a 14 y.o. boy.

that is one LONG skinny scarf!

this was a special request for a very special recipient. The brief was long, skinny, bright blue or eggplant. First, I agonized over how long and how skinny. Because we are talking fashion royalty here, but when I found the yarn at the store, everything fell into place. I used 3 balls of the Babybamboo yarn. Suer nice to knit and the color is stunning, almost shiny.

Here is my girl, modeling the scarf. on her, it's wrapped 4 times, because the thing is 6 feet long!