So, I'm moving back with my parents and now have high speed internet access... well, I sort of had it in my apartment but file transfer? Forget it!

Anyway, Lots of stuff has gone on in my life since last year, and I mean lots. Let's hope things even out now!

I'm thinking of starting a podcast about my adventures in handicrafts, and I already have a name and theme song picked out. Orange Sweater, for both. My brother's band's song. Hee.

I'm also recording one of the books I wrote so my boyfriend William can listen to it (he reads very slowly due to dyslexia, and I love reading a loud, so it's perfect). I'm also right now writing a whirlwind book so I can have my first book rejection by age 21 (apparently the book on tape I'm making isn't good enough to get rejected... in my opinion anyway).

Also, I've discovered just how much I love to knit. I was all about crochet before, but lordy, knitting has taken me where crochet has not...

cables. Yes, there are cables in crochet, but they dont' look anywhere near as pretty as knitting has. Heh. I unfortunately don't have all the pieces to the current sweater I"m knitting here at my parents; they're still at my apartment. Otherwise I'd snap a picture and show you.

But i'll show you what else is on my needles, because almost all my hooks are at my apartment...


I'm knitting a simple garter stitch scarf out of yarn Bee Truffles. And those who know me know I am NOT a fan of pink. This scarf is for my year and a half old neice, Willow. She and her family (my sis, bro-in-law and her 4 year old brother) are coming around valentine's day. I knit her brother a scarf last year, so it's her turn.

I love how this yarn works up in garter. I didn't want to do stockinette because it'd curl and I didn't want to screw around with that. Besides, it doesn't need stockinette to look beautiful.

Plus, the yarn was half off. Oh Hobby Lobby sales...



Part of a boot sock. Note the heel flap! This is also my first pair of socks, EVER. It's for my boyfriend, William. I doubt they will fit well around the legs (he's skinny), but he could always wear them over another pair at civil war reenactments. It's from swish superwash wool from Knitpicks, and it's oh so soft!

I also made William a pair of gloves, but I have to redo one because the pattern had a bit of an error and I made two right gloves. Thankfully, I bought twice as much yarn (i ADORE Knitpicks) as I needed, so I don't even have to frog the glove to salvage yarn (but I probably will and make myself a pair of socks). I don't have the gloves here either, so... no piccie. I hate that four months ago I moved almost my entire stash and supplies to my apartment over three days, and now I have to move it back. Ugh. Oh well, what's the use of complaining?

And just because I"m silly, My pet ferrets!


Mal and Gypsy, respectively....

So yeah, I knwo I dropped off the face of the earth, but...

(pardon the language) I've been having a bitch of a time at work. Next week I'm going to be working overtime due to the holidays, and I have very little time to do much else outside working out (camp counseling demands it), and trying ot finish my cosplay costume.

Bleh, evil coworkers.

Last week or so, I finished the first ghan for the charity, Squares for Survivors. It was awesome, being able to send off that afghan to someone who definitely deserves it. I've found making things for other people is just as fun as making things for myself.



Here it is, in it's tan and red glory! It was interesting, playing with squares made by different people. I crochet tightly myself, so it was kind of interesting to join the looser woven squares.
 
Last night, I also made a cloche from a pattern series I bought on Stitchdiva.com



I didn't like the flower that was in the pattern, so I made a butterfly instead. i would have liked to had a dragonfly instead, but I couldn't find any decent patterns. In retrospect, I should have done the butterfly in a contrasting color, but laziness equals matching. I think I'm going to wear it to my sister-in-law's baby shower.

Speaking of  baby shower, I'm working like a crazy woman on a star blanket for the nephew to give to Brandy next Sunday. I'm not very far, but I have Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stargate to keep me company.



Wow, I just noticed the metal link camera strap in this picture. Gives it an interesting look, no? And notice the strategically placed DVD remote by the crocheting!

I'm going to make another cloche hat for my cousin tomorrow or friday. My mom leaves on Saturday to visit the Aunts, and since I"m stuck at work (like always), I'm sending the gift along instead of me. I'll get a picture, as I"ll probably find a flower I like instead of a butterfly.

I got my first issue of CROCHET! magazine (I seriously love that random ! in the title), and there's a PERFECT pattern for a sweater that has my  mom's name written all over it. Her birthday is next wednesday, and I"ll probably end up giving her an "I O U A PRETTY SWEATER" since I have NO time to make her something since I"m hoping for mroe squares to assemble, and there's that baby blanket I have to finish by the 19th... anyway, I'm off to stitch, and maybe play some Sims 2 if it's not too late...

Wow, no updates for two months! I worked like a madwoman at the bakery, so no time for updates. And not much crochet has been happening either.

I got overtime this week. Bleh. Hopefully, it'll calm down with the new storegirls and i can find some horse back riding classes.

In progress pictures of Jimmy Jr.'s (my nephew, unborn... who has the exact same name as his dad and grandfather, but we call him Jimmy Jr. to differentiate between my brother Jimmy) baptism gown to come, as well as a silly little dress I made... for a doll. Well, a doll-like thing. You'll see.

Other than that, not much has been made. My friend is pestering me to make her a pink shawl like my green one, and I keep messing up and frogging. So it'll happen probably by... next winter.

Plus, I need to buy some red ribbon yarn for a costume for an anime convention I'm going to in May (the day Jimmy Jr. is due... oh, life).

Not much else to say...

Just a fun hat made from Yarn Bee Whirligig. Black and Dark Navy.


It was super easy to make, only took two hours. I just used a basic hat pattern, increasing as I needed (well, no pattern was used, I just made it up as I went along). I made it a hair too big (I increased one row more than I should have), so I threaded a leftover piece through the stitches at the top of the last blue stripe, and pulled it snug. It's very warm, and dense. I used almost two whole skeins of Whirligig, so it was about twenty dollars for material alone.

I showed my mom, and she didn't believe that I made it at first. Anyway, I adore making hats, but my next two projects are knitting a Dr. Who scarf for my brother, and a Christening gown for his son (probably will have until the end of May for that). I have to buy some thread and find a decent pattern.

Some spiffy armwarmers I made up quickly, right before a snowstorm hit.



And, just for kicks, my kitty overrunning the shawl I made for a play.


Yes, he only has three legs, the poor dear.

Ooo! New bloggy. I only got this to showcase my wonderful sewn and crocheted items. Or something.

Anyway, to christen Stitchery and Seams, I'll show you my first ever sewn item that isn't complete crap.




The waistband is too wide, thanks to my wonderful measuring skills, so I'll have to rip some stitches out and fix it, but that won't be as hard as hemming. Since I can't exactly do it myself, I'm going to have my mother pin up the hems for me. I don't actually want to sew them, since I hate sewing hems, but... well, I don't have much of a choice, do I? The hem, unsewn is nearly 87 inches in circumpherence. Fun stuff, man.

I went to Joanns and bought some nice hunter green crushed panne velvet for a cloak. 6 and a half yards, quite enough, I should say. I'm going to start that when I've practiced a little more. I'm going to use the scraps from my circle skirt and practice straight lines.

After a bit, I plan on making a chemise (the one I'm wearing in the pictures belongs to my sister-in-law), and perhaps a bodice if I get good enough, and finally I want to make men's breeches without a pattern. With my own ingenuity. Yes, for me to wear. I'm a Renaissance fiend.

I must finish my lacy purse and start on the hats for the ebay auctions...