Hiatus

So last week I blew out my hands. I did a crazy marathon knit session on Thursday night while being a television premiere night whore then followed it up on Friday evening with more knitting as well as beading. By the time I went to bed Friday night I was miserable and Monday was the first day I could make fists without pain. Yeah… reminder to self: the tendonitis doesn’t like marathon knitting even if it does result in a sock for Obi Wan Ka-Wessels in record time. I don’t have a picture of said sock yet, and sock number two is patiently waiting for me to be able to grasp things again but it is darn cute. 🙂 His new favorite color is aqua and I had the perfect yarn in my stash. Superwash, worsted weight, varigated with aqua and blue… 🙂 Let’s just hope they fit!

I do have pictures of something I’m quite happy with though… Remember the frog beads I bought while on the last Circle of Brain Weekend?

Those mixed with some other beads I had made this bracelet…

I’m seriously in love with it. 🙂 I should have bought a few extra frogs for earrings and a necklace though. Oh well. 🙂

I think I might be able to knit soon though so I’ll hopefully have some knitting content soon. Doodlebutt’s second birthday is also this week so pictures will be posted! 🙂 I’m also planning to go see Obama on Thursday so who knows, I might get a cool picture or two out of that! 🙂

There’s also potential good news on the homefront but… that’s all I’m saying for now. LOL

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witty subject line

So my Backstreet concert last weekend was fabulous. I had a blast and ended up being in the 10th row which wasn’t too shabby (buying tickets through the fan club this year was sort of sketchy and I had no idea where my seats were until I picked up the tickets the day of the show… yikes!). I ended up getting a few really good pictures which made me happy too.

Knitting while waiting for the gates to open…

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Tornadic Activity

Well my first time working on a Sunday in the shop certainly proved to be an interesting one. Why, you ask? Oh something about a tornado warning and a massive storm that rolled through the greater Lansing area… *groan*

Thankfully, no damage was done to the shop. One of those big plastic real estate newspaper holder thingamabobs was in the middle of the parking lot but that was about it. No yarn was harmed. hehe.

Those of us who were in the store at the time the sirens went off all gathered in the hallway near the bathrooms with Tate (and knitting, of course…). We were kept updated on the storm via my mother who was sending me text messages from her work (where there was a television to watch for weather updates) and my handy dandy iPod Touch on which I could check Weather.com every few seconds for updates. I would have snapped a picture of us all cozy in the hall but my camera was in my car… darn.

I still haven’t heard for sure if a tornado touched down but I can tell you that my neighborhood is a big fat mess. There are trees down all over the place and power outtages galore. My house didn’t have any damage thankfully but my power was out when I finally made it through the mess to get home. It took a good half an hour or more to get home from the shop (I live about 5 minutes away in good traffic) because the police were blocking off certain streets and trees were blocking others. Craziness.

Aside from all of the crazy around here, things are still crafty. 🙂

Jewelry I made for Brian’s Heathly Heart Club fundraiser in Atlanta this coming Saturday:

My Everlasting Bagstopper for the Knitted Market Bag class I’m teaching in July is coming along nicely… (it’s actually green despite what it looks like in the picture…)

My Mom who not too long ago took Sabrina’s Never Touched a Needle class at the shop finished her first sweater:

And it looks darn cute on Doodlebutt…

Finally… the past week has taught me a few things…

Bubba still enjoys candy and goofing off for the camera. 🙂

Doodlebutt has great Sweaty Hairdos…

He’s also often too sexy for his clothes…

These two make me smile a whole lot…

Ice cream is always better with french fries…

And it IS possible to run the stoplights at a major intersection with a plugged in generator after two nights of massive storms…

Things I learned without pictures… my cousin who had brain surgery this week is pretty darn brave. The Wii Fit is damn fun. Sleeping in a bed with Doodlebutt and Boo is hazardous to my sleep and also my face (getting head butted in the face in middle of the night… so not cool). So You Think You Can Dance makes me cry EVERY week. And… the movie Speed Racer isn’t nearly as bad as people are saying it is especially when you see it with two of the most adorable boys in the world.

So in all, things are okay. A little stormy and a whole lot busy, but okay. 🙂

Edit: Follow this link and you’ll see a HUGE tree that was totally uprooted not too far from my house.

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Got gauge?

I’ve never before in my life done a gauge swatch. Yes, I know… the absofreakinglute horror of a LYS Assistant Manager who hates to swatch, right? *rolls eyes* I’m just an impatient knitter… when I want to knit, I want to knit… not to knit a square that is going to be ripped out after I spend time making it. Ya know? I seriously crack up when people talk about doing swatches for socks. Seriously? *shrug* Anyway… considering the project d’jour is a shop model and really needs to be on gauge I’ll have you know that last night I did my first swatch. I hated doing it, and still don’t forsee a future of swatches made without bitching, but… I did it. 🙂 I haven’t actually checked to see if I’m on track or not because frankly, I don’t want to know. I want to think that my gauge is just perfection and I can begin the actual knitting. Cause if it’s not okay then I’ll have to re-swatch and yeah… that’s something that pretty much makes me want to gag. Plus if that’s the case then I can’t knit tonight during Idol because I don’t have any other needles with me. By eyeballing it, I think it’s okay, but I’ve gotta check for sure with the appropriate tools later.

What am I swatching for, you ask? It’s a vest. Mountain Colors Foothill Vest to be more specific. Something I’d never ever wear (not a vest person… nope), but I’m happy to make the model.

Made a new kind of stitch marker last night… so far I’m liking them.

Also made two more I ❤ Knitting pins for two of my girls who wanted them…

The pictures are kind of crappy, the colors are off… but you get the idea. 🙂 I also made a glasses string for Sabrina…

Lastly… belated pictures. 🙂

Knit Weekend Revisited… Kristi stole my camera during the Night O’ Wine and took a few self portraits. LOL This is my favorite. And this was before the back surgery! 🙂

And a Knit Weekend isn’t complete without a picture of Kristi laying somewhere odd on her back. Remember the last one?

You’ve seen this Bergere de France ad in Vogue Knitting, right?

Yeah well Franklin can rock the swing jacket too… hehe… 🙂

Finally… a glance at another kick ass birthday cake crafted at the last minute by my SIL and me. 🙂 For the non Star Wars people this would be the scene where Obi Wan and Anakin fight in Episode 3 and we find out why Darth Vadar needs the breathing machine and helmet thing in the future. 🙂 Hehe… Wesley specifically wanted that scene on his cake this year. 🙂

Tis all for now. 🙂

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Oh the weather outside is frightful

We extended last night’s crafty slumber party to two nights (with a 5 hour break for working at the shop of course, lol). We’re sitting out the winter storm warning together with food, beads, knitting and dvd’s. 🙂

A few items I’ve made so far… Earrings and a bracelet for me:

Earrings and a bracelet for my baby sister’s mom…

And a watch for my mom to go with the stuff I made her over the summer…

I also casted on for a new pair of fingerless gloves that Rob gave me a pattern for the other day, but I don’t have a picture of that yet. I ‘m about an inch from the thumb gusset already though. 🙂

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Knitting Hiatus

I’m taking a hiatus from knitting… every time I’ve picked up a set of needles this week it has resulted in major tendonitis upsets which just aren’t any fun. So despite the fact that I have a massive amount of knitting to do before Christmas… I’m not doing any of it right now. *le sigh* But… I’m still being crafty. 🙂 I made a pin tonight to put on my new non ghetto nametag (see Black Friday post). 🙂

It’s a shitty picture, but it’s the best you’re gunna get. 🙂 More jewlery goodness will be made tomorrow though… my buds are having a crafty slumber party so once I’m outta work tomorrow night I’ll be immersed in wine, beading, good food, and wonderful friends. 🙂 I can’t wait! Of course I have to work Saturday afternoon so I can’t hang out in my pj’s all day with the girls on Saturday, but oh well. 🙂

And now… I’m going to go home, drug myself up on cold meds and get some sleep. Nighty!

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…

This whole working two jobs thing pretty much blows. :p Especially when it comes to my knitting time! But… I’ve got a mortgage to pay and a crapload of bills so… I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m still working in the yarn shop and now I’m also working a temp job at the District Library here in town. It’s a 6-8 week job, full time, crappy pay… but I get to wear jeans and listen to my headphones all day long. 🙂 I’ve been there for a week so far. It’s a fairly painless job (although my tendonitis doesn’t exactly love it), I’m tagging items in one of the libraries for a new system which is going to be put into place sooner or later. So basically I put these nifty security sticker tags on every single item in the library and arm it so that it’ll work. This is what I look at for eight hours a day.

Wanna guess what part of the library I’ve been working on for the past three days?

Yeah… those are the cd’s I’ve checked out this week. 🙂 I’ve also checked out a knitting book and I’m sure once I start tagging the books tomorrow I’ll leave with more books soon. 🙂 Libraries rock. Free books and cd’s rock. 🙂 Aside from working at the library and the shop, my time pretty much consists of sleep, worrying about bills, and counting down to the new Backstreet cd (8 days!!!). Anyone know of a house flipper in the mid-Michigan area who wants to buy a cute little house in a great neighborhood to flip? I’d really like to get rid of the house so I can save some money. It’s a great house, but it’s old and needs a bit of work to be fabulous. 🙂

As for knitting… there’s been a little. From the above mentioned checked out knitting book I made a beaded knitted bracelet. I’d show it to you but I can’t find it. I think I may have dropped it at Kristi’s last night. :op It’s kinda cute… needs some tweaking (i.e. smaller beads) but it could be a darn cute (and super fast) project.

I do however have pictures of this pretty…

What is it? Well I’ll tell ya… it’s a baby leg warmer. 🙂

Or rather, it will be once I finish the ribbing. These are a commissioned project. My friend Heidi is making a dress for her niece and wanted some Baby Legs to go with them but preferred to have hand-knit Baby Legs instead of the store bought ones. So… I found a pattern by Knitting at Knoon and voila. 🙂 Once I get one done Devin is totally going to be a model for me. Hehe… Oh and I’m making them out of Biberon (sp?) and it’s quite soft. 🙂 I seriously want some sock yarn in these colors. 🙂

Last but not lease… I have this…

It hopes to be a hat to go with the Scarf O’ Pinkness. I’m afraid I ‘m going to run out of yarn though, so we’ll see… The Scarf O’ Pinkness is waiting patiently for a partner. 🙂

I hope everyone in the knitting world is doing well… I haven’t had time to read my blogroll much, but I’m thinking about all of ya! 🙂

See, Rob? I told you’d I’d make a post! 🙂

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One more…

I forgot, I made a watch this week. 🙂 I had a beaded watch that I loved but never couldn’t wear every day since it had green in the beads. So I re-did it using beads that can be worn daily.

And a froggie charm that hangs down. 🙂

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*waves*

I’m still around, really. I’ve even done some knitting. Not much, but a little.

More socks… this time for me. I’m using the same pattern I used for my HP socks (although I’m considering ripping it out and doing a toe up sock), and yarn from Wool Girl (stitch marker from there too… so cute, it came free with my purchase). The yarn is Ravenclaw colored yarn by VanCalCar. I also have the Slytherin colorway too because it’s pretty.

I’ve been beading too. I made this set for my mom.

And, one of the final gifts I made for the HP swap… magic scissors with a beaded handle that matched the stitch markers I made.

That might have to be an Etsy project… They’d be easy to make in bulk, but something that is useful. :op

Harry Potter #7 was brilliant and I loved it. And The Order of the Phoenix movie… FABulous.

That’s all for now… tendonitis is yelling at me because my mom and I pulled up the carpet in my dining room last night. Ouch. Must rest hands so I can knit with the girls on Wednesday.

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And she beads too…

I’ve been in the mood to bead again (I used to do it a long time ago but hadn’t done it in a while) so for Mother’s Day I made bracelets and earrings:

They’re all about the same design because I’d planned on giving them to several people but in different colors, but then I changed my mind and gave them all to my mom. hehe

Then last week I made a magic wire bracelet for myself which works as a bracelet or anklet…

And I just made one for my buddie Shawn because today is her birthday…

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