Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Whew

I made it through Christmas. I got my two presents I was crocheting done, even though I only found out about one on the Monday before Christmas.

I had a GREAT Christmas, my kiddos were hilarious, adorable, and just the best. They had such a good time, and I had a good time just watching them. It was so good to see all of our family, and spend time with them, and we consider ourselves very fortunate that we can say that. ;)

Project wise, I finished the hat and scarf set I was making for bil's girlfriend, I LOVED how it turned out. I also finished the hat for my brother and he likes it, WOOHOO! I didn't get a picture of it finished though. Other family members are now asking for hats or scarves, and friends of my brother's want hats like his. I told brother that I'd make them hats for $15, so we'll see what comes out of that. I am just happy that they were happy with what I made.

I am now back to working on the scarf/hat set for a fellow Sybermom, and after my mad crocheting last week, it is seeming pretty easy. Hopefully I can get it all finished up this week, but it is crazy, as my sisters are in town and New Year's is on the way.

I also got Sims 2 with some Christmas money, but it was a toss up between that and yarn. But, I can crochet while I play. The girls are off school, and D is out of preschool until next week, so the house is pretty much chaos. Hooray!

Wednesday, December 22, 2004


Here is the scarf/hat set for my bil's girlfriend, finally finished! I am in love with the colors. Posted by Hello

A closer view, I did the hat and scarf in a sc. Posted by Hello

This is what the wool looked like before I plunged it into koolaid. ;) Posted by Hello

Here are today's colors, and the last of this wool. The orange turned out very pretty, although so far, none of them have taken as well as the strawberry. Posted by Hello

I made this pink with 7 packets of pink lemonade, and a little bit of cherry and grape to make it darker. Posted by Hello

Here are the pink and orange together, for comparison. Posted by Hello

Tuesday, December 21, 2004


Here's the yarn, dyed in koolaid. It went pretty well all things considered. I used 7 packets of the strawberry for two 1.7oz skeins, and 8 packets of the grape for two 1.7oz skeins. Posted by Hello

Here's the grape, it didn't take as well. Posted by Hello

Here is the strawberry! Posted by Hello

Koolaid dye yippee!

Sooo, I am trying my first batch of koolaid dying, and using the instructions from knitty.com:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

I'm using the wool I bought an ebay, that I had planned to felt, until I was reminded by a fellow crafty whore that it was superwash. I decided to go ahead and koolaid dye it and see what I can come up with. I picked up a ton of koolaid packets today, in strawberry, grape, cherry, and orange. I'm starting with the strawberry, using them microwave. My house smells like a strawberry koolaid packet now. I am doing skeins of it at once, hopefully that doesn't bite me in the ass later, for some silly reason.

And, of course, I should be working on the scarf I need to finish and other crochet projects AND the mountains of gifts I need to wrap AND cleaning my house. Sigh.

I will have to post pics of the yarn when it's done.

Sunday, December 19, 2004


Here is a hat I made for my bil's girlfriend, being modeled by Arenne. I used the Lion Boucle in Lime Blue, with matching Fun Fur. It worked up pretty quickly! Posted by Hello

Here is Abbie in the hat, you can see the fur more in this one. Posted by Hello

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Christmas shoppingl...Yay

So we finally got some Christmas shopping done, other than the few things I had gotten off of ebay. The crowds were nuts, but we seem to have gotten all of the kid shopping done, WOOHOOO! They are going to be way too much fun on Christmas morning.

I have not felt in the holiday spirit at all yet this year, hopefully I will soon, sheesh it's almost Christmas! I am working on Alysia's hat/scarf set for her gift, I am loving the blues and greens and can't wait to see it finished, I will definitely post pics.

I must suffer from some Christmas tree procrastination illness. We have had real trees in the past, I LOVE real trees, Mr Blue hates them. It doesn't seem like Christmas without going to pick out a tree, and that nice fresh smell. Well, in the past, when we have gotten the tree, we've somehow not gotten around to decorating it, or I leave it up waaaay too long. Last year my parents gave us a nice fake tree, complete with lights as a gift. Mr Blue was VERY happy about this.

The tree is up, Mr Blue put it together, and I arranged all the branches. It has approximately 4 ornaments on it, that the children have made at school and brought home. That's it. We have other ornaments, but it seems like we have not had the time as a family to decorate it, or we would rather just relax. We MUST get this tree decorated for crying out loud!

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Crocheting we will go

Crocheting we will go,
high ho the merry-o
crocheting we will go!

So, I am just about finished with the hat from the hat/scarf set. Hopefully the scarf will work up as quickly. Next up is a hat/scarf set for my bil's girlfriend, I am using Lion Brand Boucle in Lime Blue, with Fun Fur to match. It is GORGEOUS, and I think I will end up wanting one for myself too!

After that, I want to go back to the felted bag I was working on, and get that finished. Then I will figure out what to do with my dishcloth turned scarf.

Man do I need to get going Christmas wise, whew! It is way too close for comfort, even for a procrastinator like me!

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

So I decided

to take the fun fur off of the hat I made for me. I didn't care for the way it looked on me, and it was itchy. Taking it off proved to be a LOT more work than putting it on was, if you can believe that. I have a few new projects I am working on, mainly the hat/scarf set I sold.

I have been really sick lately, and this morning I was headbutted by my two year old-back of his head into my nose. I am pretty sure it is broken. Oh my. It hurts like hell, but apparently the cold I have is working in my favor to stem the bleeding. Yippee. I had hoped to do a lot of crocheting this morning, instead I spent it holding ice to my nose. Tons of fun!

Thursday, December 09, 2004


I made this hat for myself yesterday. The fur looks more full in this pic than in person. This is especially good for the rowdy hair mornings. Posted by Hello

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Hmmmm

So I am still working on my dishcloth turned scarf, buuuut now I am wondering if it is too wide. Between the yarn, the size of the hook, and the stitch I am using I think I will be working on it FOREVER. I was thinking about taking it apart and starting over, but I hate to destroy all that work. I guess I will keep going, it's not really worth it to take it apart, as it's just for me.

Tomorrow I need to start another hat and scarf set, just like the auction set. Another Sybermom is buying it from me. So, my first ever sale of something I've crocheted. WOOHOO! It's a nice feeling.

I am also making some scarves and hats for my bil's girlfriend for Christmas, and may be doing some other things for presents, depending on how much time all of this takes me.

Here is the scarf, part of a scarf/hat set I made for a Sybermoms auction. Posted by Hello

Here's a close-up shot of the hat. Posted by Hello

Here I am in a scarf and hat set I made for an auction on Sybermoms. It went for $65 WOOHOOOO!!!! Posted by Hello

Friday, November 26, 2004


A shot of them posing in the new ponchos. I added ribbon to the neckline to cinch them up a bit, it worked out pretty well. Posted by Hello

My beautiful girls. :) Posted by Hello

Tuesday, November 23, 2004


Arenne is too much, she is so sweet and wore her poncho all night. Posted by Hello

And here is the front. I am going to add some ribbon-I think-to the neck to cinch it up a bit for her.  Posted by Hello

Here's the back of Arenne's poncho, it's a little big. Posted by Hello

Monday, November 22, 2004

It's not boucle

that is of the debil, it is fun fur. *twitch*

I really detest

sewing in the ends. A lot.

I have the first poncho sewn together, and am sewing in all the end strings. Then it's onto sewing Abbie's poncho together and those ends in. Then the fur fur. I will have them finished tomorrow, hooray! (About time too.)

One lesson I've learned, if your strips end up wider on one end than the other your poncho will be slighty off. Hopefully this will not be that noticeable when worn. Hope for me. And my children. ;)

All four strips, FINISHED! Posted by Hello

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Phase 1 of Desk Excavation has begun

Halfway through, and I had no idea I had as much yarn as I do. WOOHOO! I am trying to get my area back to craft friendly, I set up shelves and am moving things around a bit. It makes me wish I had my very own craft room, but I'll have to make do with my corner.

Still working on the ponchos, obviously I haven't had as much crochet time today. We have our nephew over tonight and the girls are over at my parents for their own sleepover, I am way outnumbered by the boys. Football, video games, and pizza. Good thing I like all those things too. ;)

The Hawkeyes won again WOOHOOOO!

Friday, November 19, 2004

And the poncho saga continues

I have not had NEARLY enough crocheting time lately, so still working on strip #4. I must get them done by this weekend. It is my duty as a crocheter. And as a mom of two little girls who are waiting, not all the way patiently, for them.

Tonight is party night with Big C, he is raring to go, and WILL NOT be held, lest he fall asleep. We are listening to launchcast on yahoo messenger and he is dancing his cute little diapered behind off. My little wildman.

Today I had to go get a copy of the title to my old car that we are trying to sell. As usual, this trip to the DMV was filled with adventure. They couldn't find the title in their system based on my name. I was told to come back with the vin # and license plate #. The problem here is that I had to work today, so I planned on trying to get out of work early to go up before the kids get out of school. WRONG. Today was busy, the other waitress was sick, and the one who filled in could only stay until 12:30. Of course we were then busy, and I didn't get out of there until almost 3. The plan was changed to include carting four kiddos to the DMV. I bribed them with fast food if they were good, and hoped that maybe their presence would help get me in and out faster. On the way there I was very nearly hit by a FedEx truck, backed into by another truck, and had a car take up two spots so that the kids and I had to walk even further. (Said car pulled into both spots right ahead of me, and did not move over even though I was patiently waiting behind them. People are so thoughtful.) We actually made it into the DMV, the kids were pretty well behaved. Turns out that they had to call Des Moines for the title no. and will now have to make a new copy, which will take 5 days. My buyer was coming on Sunday. Scratch that.

Adaptable? Hell yes i am adaptable. With four kids there is not much that goes as planned here. In spite of my adaptability today was enough to shatter what was left of my nerves. I rewarded my well-behaved children with Burger King, complete with Spongebob kids meal toys, drive-thru all the way, treated myself to a latte, and we made it home.

It's a drizzly, rainy day, jammies were put on right away and we settled in for a night of book-reading and game playing, and to top it off some Nemo watching. Now if I can just get this rowdy little one to sleep so I can crochet in peace.

Thursday, November 18, 2004


Here is the yarn I am using for scarf/hat combo. Lion Brand homespun and this yummy furry yarn for edging. Posted by Hello

Will illness ever leave my house?

With six of us living here, and having to each catch all the bugs, it seems as we are never fully well. Arenne is home sick today, she threw up last night, poor kiddo. It seems to be going easier on her than it did Colin though.

I am hoping to finish the second strip for Abbie's poncho today, then I will move onto sewing them together. I'm a little nervous about that part, as I've never done it, we'll see how it goes. After that it's fun fur time!

I have worked on the scarf a bit in the car, although not a whole lot. Still haven't picked the bag back up again, it's on hold for now. After finishing the ponchos I am making a scarf/hat combo to be auctioned off at sybermoms. I'll post a picture of the yarn I am using for that in a bit.

I won a wool yarn auction on ebay today, 8 skeins of white superwool. I've wanted to try koolaid dyeing for awhile now. I'll definitely need pictures of that, I'm sure it will be an adventure.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

So I'm still working

on Abbie's poncho, but the more I work on hers, the more I worry that I am going to have to frog and restart Arenne's. I will have to try to get a pic, but one end is wider than the other, as I added stitches on both strips. Blech. I'm worried that if I do frog it, it will ruin the yarn. I think I can sew it together and it will be fine, but it's harder when you are doing two, that will be worn together, the differences will be very obvious then. So far I have decided to continue working on Ab's and then decide. (Which basically means I am just putting off the decision.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!

I have to have a message just to send birthday wishes to my good friend V. Hope the day treats you well, in spite of everything, and that you get to enjoy your weekend. :)

Monday, November 15, 2004


Progress so far tonight. :) It's going well. Posted by Hello

Strip one of Abbie's poncho, same kind of yarn, different color. Posted by Hello

Wooohooo!

Arenne's strips are done! I have started on the first strip for Abbie's now. I really had trouble with adding stitches with the boucle, hopefully I will get better with these next two.

Hopefully.

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Blah Ha Ha!

So, today my mil came to pick up the munchkins, and I promptly conked out on my couch. I am feeling better today, no more spending half of my day in the bathroom. Yesterday was just tons of fun, I now have the entire bathroom memorized. ManBleu came home with a latte for me-a good, good man. He made dinner for us, the kiddos came home and I graciously allowed him to take over kid duty. Good thing, because the tremors decided to visit, and as usual I was very stiff and achey afterwards. I was also frustrated and down, and I am just pretty much fed up with all of this physical crap. I had planned on doing some mad crocheting and at the very least finishing strip 2, buuuut instead I sat at the computer, and felt sorry for myself because I couldn't get my hands to work.

After a few hours of moping, an M&M/Oreo blizzard, fun on my favorite websites, and a really great conversation with my friend Soop I am feeling better. My hands are working again, so I am redoing the couple rows I had to frog because I missed some stitches, and hoping I can finish strip 2 before I need to get to bed. (I really need to get there now, but I am pretending I don't.)

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Wow, I am tired.

ManBlue is at the Hawkeyes game, having a blast. I am here, in my messy living room with four very wide-awake children. I wish they all still took naps. C is feeling much better today, he was a sick little man yesterday, poor guy. We had a rowdy night last night, please pray I get some sleep tonight. Hopefully the illness is now on it's way out of our house.

I've been working on Arenne's poncho still, over halfway done with the second strip. I am itching to totally finish it, but I want to stick with the plan of doing Abbie's strips next. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Let's Go Hawks!!!

My good friend Michelle sent me these absolutely gorgeous wood crochet hooks, and some yummy yarn as well. I'm almost afraid to use them they are so cool. Posted by Hello