What Was I Thinking?

For the two readers out there who don't know me let me tell you something: I'm a big girl. AND I'm one of those big girls with a couple big girls sitting squarely on my chest. I "get away with" wearing full-coverage DDDs, but I really measure at a G.

So what on earth made me look at "Nell" and think I could make it for myself?



Seriously??? That maniquin doesn't have ANY boobs! I thought I could just increase the width, adding a couple motifs, and it would stretch across my chest. Well, yes, but that doesn't make it look like a bodice. It looks like a ribbon of crochet across my gigantic boobs!

GAH. I'm thinking about making it into a detail at the empire waist level of a dress perhaps? I don't know. Maybe I'll frog it altogether. Dammit! I was SO excited about making a shirt for myself!

Yarn Binge

I took a long weekend trip up the coast to Santa Barbara last week. It was lovely and relaxing for the first couple days, then lovely and funny the next two. Why? Because the first two I was alone and basically just roamed around window shopping, did a lot of yarn buying and worked on some projects. Then on Saturday a whole lot of female relatives rolled into town and we ran around together. It was so fun.

When left to my own devices I hit the two yarn stores in town. The first was Loop & Leaf- a cute little shop that brands itself as a yarn/tea store. The tea seems to be really more of an after-thought. There's a small selection in a side room. The shop's real strength is wool & cashmere. I'm not a huge fan of wool and I don't have the budget for cashmere. Thus, I ended up with only a few skeins. Everything I bough here was on sale! YAY! Although, the "sale" incentive probably got me to buy things I normally wouldn't.

The Loop & Leaf Haul:

Cherry Tree Supersock DK in Country Garden

Project: Fingerless mittens for Maybelle.... and other people too probably :)

Cherry Tree Supersock Select in Peacock

No project... this is just stashed.

Frog Tree Pima Cotton in 630 (Green), 651 (Beige), and 652 (Brown/Slate)

Project: Nothing specifically, but I thought they'd make nice amigurumi friends.

Next I went to Knit & Pearl. This shop is probably less square footage than Loop & leaf but I think they had a larger selection. They definitely had far more of what I was interested in, namely cotton & bamboo. Please don't ask me how much money I spent here. I will tell you it was enough to not have the least bit of guilt over asking the owner to wind 8 balls for me even though she was the only person working the store and there were other customers.

The Knit & Pearl Haul:

Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton in Red & Blue

Project: I bought both colors because I loved the yarn so much, but I was drawn to this originally because Earth Day came up this week & marked 15 years since my best friend and I became friends! 2nd Time Cotton is 100% pre-consumer, reclaimed cotton. They all it "recycled" but really they take left over cotton from manufacturers and turn it into yarn rather than let it be thrown out. Full disclosure: I went back and bought two more skeins of each color. I know. I know. It's a good thing, though, as I used 3 + a little more of the red to make a scarf for the BFF. I have to say it came out pretty awesome & will get it's own post once I get pictures of it. I may make her some mitts with the rest of the skein if she's a good girl.

Knit One Crochet Too Babyboo in Hot Pink, Garnet & Cantalope

Project: None necessarily. I bought it because it was a decent price on vibrant bamboo yarn. I friggin' love bamboo. This is the kind of stuff I might end up buying in every color. It was really REALLY hard to choose. Love it. LOVE. IT.

Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in light blue

Project: None. This is stashed for some baby project most likely. I bought it because it was on sale.

And that's my haul. I'm thinking most of the babyboo & the Debbie will be made into little tiny baby clothes. I don't have any little tiny babies to make things for at the moment (my tiniest cousins are approaching 2 years), but with two best friends married & baby-hungry and lots of cousins who are newly married, I imagine there'll be an onslaught of tiny creatures fairly soon. Since you know once you give one person something handmade you have to give EVERYONE something handmade, I really need to start stockpiling.

WiPs

For those outside the online crafting community: WiPs = Work in Progress!

This is what's in my WiP basket at the moment:

Big Ol' Bear- I'm not sure who this will belong to eventually. It's gonna be BIG. I'm about half way through the height right now and including his little legs he's about a foot tall already. He's also rather heavy. This is a toddler gift at least... maybe an older child.

Fingerless Mitts- LOVE this pattern. I made a "trial" pair for myself with my never ending stash of varigated Patons Decor yarn. I love them. I'm now making a "real" pair for my friend's great aunt Maybelle. I love hearing stories about Maybelle. The most recent was that her hands got cold during a visit and she put on latax gloves! Apparently regular gloves don't give her enough finger mobility. :) Hope she likes the fingerless ones.

Granny Square Blanket- This project is eating my life. When I started out with the Patons Decor stash I decided to make a blanket. I picked colors that would match the varigated. Now I don't have enough of a coordinating color and have to buy more yarn. I refuse to calculate how much this damn thing is costing me- neither in time nor money. Ahhhh.... a work of love. Bastard better appreciate it.

Grannies for Haiti- This project started yesterday and will be done this weekend. Click the link in the sidebar for more info. I plan to send at least 10 squares... maybe more if this weekend finds me sick of working on....

The Soldier Scarf- Ok, this is actually ever in "the basket". It's always in some sort of project tote. It's so repeatative that it makes the perfect knit-while-visiting project. It's been busted out at many a Starbucks, several friends' homes, my car and in line at a film festival. It feels like it's NEVER going to be finished but it is growing slowly but surely.

I also kind of started a little shrug for myself but I think I'm going to frog it. We'll see.

Pics coming I swear!!

#TeamAndrewGarcia- Beatles

It's a scary day for Team Andrew Garcia. The consensus among Idol bloggers seems to be that it's either Aaron Kelly or Andrew going home tonight. My love for Andrew aside, I have no idea why Aaron is still on the show. He's been consistently awful and has no appeal whatsoever. People say it's the "grandma vote" keeping him in. I hope, for Andrew's sake, the grandmas have scooted on over to Katie.

I liked Andrew's performance of Can't Buy Me Love. It was fun. He didn't mess with it too much, but did put a little spin on it. The breakdown was fantastic. I do agree with the judges, though, that the band was just too much. He might have been better off with just a base and some drums. Overall I think performances that are more in keeping with his old youtube status have gone over better. Acoustic guitar, a little fun with the melody and timing... perfect.

So is Andrew going home tonight? I sure hope not. I think he's gotten enough exposure that he'll get really far in the business regardless. Honestly- I'm being selfish. I want Andrew in the top 3 because then we get a parade. :) Nothing happens in this town and we're JUST FINALLY pulling together for Andrew. It would be a shame for him to be off the show at this point.

In case you missed it, here's Andrew's performance and the judge's (as always) harsh critique:



I watched this episode at Shakey's with Andrew's family, friends & supporters. It was kind of fun and everything is better with mojos :) Post-viewing I went home (illegally redialing to vote as I drove!) and logged in to BlogTV to watch AJ Rafael's "virtual voting party". This has become a weekly ritual. There's nothing worth watching on tv after Idol and AJ takes the time to chat with fans & play songs while everyone votes for the next 2 hours. There were some surprises in the chat last night. There's a veil of necessary secrecy but let me say two things: 1) Andrew Garcia loves his fans and 2) assuming Andrew survives this week, you should really get in on the voting party next week. Hope I see you there.


Post-script
Once voting had closed I posted I'd listen to AJ sing one song & go to bed. He let me make a request and then sang a really beautiful version of his original "My Soldier" for me. That's been my favorite song for a while but recently (and for obvious reason) it's become increasingly touching for me. It was very sweet of AJ to play it. He's such a great kid. :)

Olive-ia

So this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down...

Or not.

The thing about being a craft sort of person and having the nerve to tell people about it is that they then want you to, you know, CRAFT something for them. Watching me knit the soldier scarf, my best male friend requested a granny square blanket. WTH? What 30 year old man wants a granny square blanket? Anyway- I told him no but secretly started making one anyway. Seeing me start that blanket one of my best girl friends requested one, too. Arg. She has been told she is on a waiting list and can, at best, expect one Christmas 2011.

Then came Olivia. I posted a photo album on Facebook called "Stuff I made out of yarn" and put all my recent creations there. I got lots of positive feedback and a possible crochet date with a friend of a friend... so that was nice. I also got a comment from a high school classmate who not so subtly hinted that her newborn would LOVE something made for her.

I have this thing about babies and handmade things. My maternal grandmother was an avid crocheter. She is, in fact, the one who taught me to hook at the ripe old age of 7. I have multiple blankets in many sizes as well as a few dresses and sweaters made by her hands. Although knitting (and on a smaller scale, crocheting) is making a come-back, I still don't see many handmade things at baby showers and it makes me sad. So I've become the "auntie" who fills this role. I'm still on a quest to find a quick & easy amigurumi pattern I can churn out multiples of for Project Night Night.

So... there's Olivia. Daughter of a 30 year old rocker chick. I'm guessing she probably isn't swimming in hand-knitwear. So how can I, an easily guilt-ridden Catholic, deny her the opportunity to have something handmade for her. But... I'm also a crocheter swimming in works-in-progress. So I took the semi-easy way out.

I took RoxyCraft's Bunny Boo pattern and altered it, making a cute little olive. I flattened the top and then angled it up a bit to mimic the hole in a green olive. Obviously I omitted the ears and tail. Instead, I added a small circle of red for the pimento. I added a face (remembering to keep the eyes set low and wide this time) and, to make her more feminine I stitched a little bow to the side of her head.



Oh amigurumi, how I adore thee.

Olive-ia will me mailed off to Miss Olivia today, and hopefully make it to Vegas in time for Easter. Because nothing says "Jesus is Risen" like an anthropomorphic cocktail garnish.

Chocolate Bunny

I bought this set of patterns on etsy several weeks ago. You've already seen my main reason for the purchase: Miss Kiana's Hello Kitty Easter Bunny.I've been on an amigurumi trip all weekend, so I decided to try out the teddy bear pattern (not pictured).

As I worked along (in Red Heart "Classic" majorly cheap acrylic in Mid Brown) I thought it might make a cute bunny instead. I used the ears from Roxy Craft's Bunny Boo, added a loopy tail at the back and I'm pretty happy about it.




I made the eyes yellow to mimic the classic chocolate chocolate easter bunnies you get from the grocery store.

Ok.. so you may be wondering why the bunny is laying on a pile of granny squares. The photoshoot took place in my Work In Progress / Waiting To Be Gifted basket. My yarn stash is raging out of control, but I keep the yarn for projects separate. This little basket gets cleaned every-other-day or so and helps me stay organized. It currently looks like this:



I love all the little Easter friends hanging out waiting for homes. :) Ooo... and what's that little green thing? She's going to have her own blog post this week!

Easter!

I'm a horrible blogger.

I've been busy... but have few photos to prove it. I do, however, have photos of my Easter creations. There are three little girls (and no little boys) on my mom's side of the family. They are basically related to me the same way: daughters of cousins. Technically they are as such: Soli- second cousin; Kiana- step second cousin once removed; Maya- second cousin once removed.

Yeah.

So, I refer to Soli as my cousin's daughter (or my "little cousin") and Kiana and Maya as my sort-of nieces. Don't question my logic.

All three of these girls are getting Easter gifts made my own soon-to-be-arthritic hands.

Soli:

Easter Bunny Egg
Pattern by RoxyCraft ("Bunny Boo")



RoxyCraft's is so much cuter than mine. It's the eye placement mostly. I need to remember squished-up faces make for cuter little creatures. Oh well. Next time.


Maya:

Purple Bunny
Pattern (also by Roxy!) found on Lion Brand ("Best Bunny")



I'm much happier with this... although I should probably have gone with a more Eastery color.


Kiana:

Hello Kitty dressed as Easter Bunny
Pattern by CrochetPatterns on etsy. ("Hello Kitty")



Again... eye placement issues. Her eyes should have been further apart. I'm also have trouble with connection points. You can see a few of the connecting stitches on the front of the head. Booo. Other than that, I'm pleased. This etsy shop has lots of cute patterns- I bought the entire collection, in fact. However, it'd definitely for an advanced crochter. You're left to figure LOTS of things out yourself. It took a lot of trial and error, but the finished product came out pretty well I think.

So... Happy Easter everyone. I have lots of big projects that are coming along slowly. Promise promise promise I'll get those up soon.