Through Any Window Baby Blanket Progress

Here's the progress I've been making on the Through Any Window Baby Blanket.

By this morning I'd finished 23 rows (4 pattern repeats). The blanket measured 21" which is a bit bigger than the pattern gauge. I'm using thicker yarn and a larger hook...Caron pounders in pink and purple and Rainbow Boucle in a variegated baby color and a K hook.



By this evening, I'd done two more pattern repeats and now have 31 rows. The blanket measures about 27" now. One more pattern increase and the blanket size will be the same as the pattern. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to stop at one more repeat or do the last two repeats and just have the blanket measure slightly larger.



The pics above don't really show the colors very well, so I took a close-up under a desk lamp. You can really get a feel for the colors here. You can also see that the rainbow boucle is slightly fuzzy (and it doesn't shed!). I really love the boucle...its so soft!



The pattern is simple and once you get past the first few rows, its easily memorized. Gotta say I was surprised at how fast its working up too. I love a pattern like this...looks hard but isn't!

Visit to Rockefellar Center

Last week Pi mentioned that she wanted to see the Rockefellar Center tree. I'm not big into touristy things, so we hadn't been to see the tree in a few years. Today, we went and I'm glad we did.

Here's the gigantic tree. It's HUGE!



We hung around the ice skating area and watched the skaters for awhile.

A giant toy soldier.

Giant Christmas lights.

Pi standing in front of the huge Christmas ornaments.

We also had some unannounced visitors. My uncle from PA came by with his new granddaughter. His entire family soon followed and we had 10 guests crammed into our little apartment. I'm glad they came! We had a really nice time and the baby is just the most adorable little thing you'll ever see.

I'll get pics up of my progress on the baby blanket soon.

Going Green

Lots of people bring their own bags to the grocery store, as not to cause more waste by using plastic or paper bags. That's cool and I'm all for going green, but today I saw someone who must really be passionate about going green.

I went to the cafeteria at my job to get lunch (didn't feel like going outside). There is a salad bar in one corner and most people use the salad containers that are provided to make their salad. On my way past the salad bar (you didn't really think I got salad, did you?), I saw a man filling up a tupperware with his salad instead of using the containers! The cashiers weigh your container, so I'm sure that he pays more for his lunch just by using tupperware, but it must be worth it to him. Personally, I wouldn't bring a tupperware and pay extra for lunch, but more props to this guy for being really green.

Kelly, here's a pic of me from Christmas Day with my trenchcoat. I don't have a front pic, since I was being silly with my sister.



Laurah, you're right, I am very lucky to have a kid with so much Christmas spirit. In general, she's a happy kid and keeps me from growing up too fast. I joke with her that we're growing up together, since I had her when I was 19. The thought of mom still "growing up" makes her giggle.

I can't keep my hook far from my hands too long. Last night I started two projects. One is a small project for my Pay it Forward, so I can't share anymore about that.

The other is Laurah's pattern called Through Any Window Baby Blanket. My cousin is due to have a baby in February and I thought this would be a great pattern to try. So far I'm only on row 7, since hubby and I watched a few episodes of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. If you haven't seen it, this show is hysterical! Definitely don't watch with kids around as there is alot of crude humor, but really really hysterical. Funnier than The Office.

The Aftermath

This is just a taste of the mess left after Pi demolished all paper and boxes from her gifts.



We had a really great Christmas morning. Pi was so happy with everything Santa brought. She was shrieking with excitement when she woke up "Santa came! SANTA CAME!" Ear piercing but adorable.

Pi played an angel at Christmas Eve mass. I nearly melted seeing my baby looking so angelic.



Almost all of my gifts were well received. The only one that had a lukewarm response was my youngest twin sister. I gave her the purple and pink ami doll and she responded "I like it...a little." Ha! I have to say one good thing about the girl's autism is that they don't lie. They tell you exactly what they are feeling and I appreciate the honesty. The older twin loved her doll! She even hugged it and kissed it when she opened it. One out of two ain't bad!

Everyone else seemed to really love and appreciate their gifts. My 19 y/o sister even called me last night to tell me she loved the scarf so much that she'd been wearing it since I gave it to her. That gave me the warm fuzzies.

I got some really cool gifts, including a trench coat! I've never owned one before. Wearing it gives me the strange desire to buy a fedora and become a spy. :)~ Its a really cool looking coat.

Other than that, I managed to lose my glasses in my grandpa's car vent system. Yeah, INSIDE the vent. Don't ask how, really, its stupid. My dad came to the rescue though and managed to fish them out without too much trouble. I did have to go all of yesterday without them, which made for an intereting work day. Can't see anything on the computer without them, ha!

I don't have anything on my hook right now. I'm trying to decide what to make for my pay it forward gifts. Decisions, decisions. While I'm deciding, I figured I could give my brain a little boost by reading a book. I love to read, but abandon it more than I care to say for crochet.

Oh and remember that Christmas isn't over yet! The real Christmas season started on Christmas Day and lasts until January 6th, the day of the Epiphany (or Three Kings Day), hence the 12 days of Christmas. Enjoy the season peeps!

Swap Swap Gals

I've joined Lesa's new Swap blog. In order to participate, I have to answer a few questions here on my blog:

Hobbies? Crochet, reading, and baking! I also like to watch movies/dvds with my family. We try to do a family night once a month, where we watch a kid friendly movie, make cookies and popcorn. Its fun!

Crafts? Crochet is my biggest craft. Sometimes I scrapbook too. I also keep a journal for my daughter, where I write down the funny things she says and paste pictures. I'd like to learn to sew and knit one day.

Favorite Colors? Blue is my all time fav color, but I also love greens, browns, pink...basically all colors...although I won't wear bright yellow or neons.

Favorite Animal? Cats. I can't have pets, but cats are my fav pet. My favorite zoo animal has to be monkeys and penguins.

All Dislikes? I don't like the smell of vanilla scented things and I'm not a fan of fun fur yarn.

Favorite Candies? Anything chocolate!! Really, I have a sweet tooth and will eat just about any candy you put in front of me!

Favorite Smell Goods? I love the smell of strawberry, raspberry, linen, baby powder, lavendar and apples.

Other things you may like or may not like? I love coffee. I never used to drink it regularly, but over the last year I must have at least 1 cup a day! It starts my day off right. Also, I'm Catholic and love little religious things like prayer cards, little statues, medallions, or t-shirts. I also like headbands...I wear a headband nearly everyday to keep my hair out of my face. I LOVE big purses!!! I don't know why but there is something about having a nice big purse that just makes me so happy!

The swap should be fun Lesa! Thanks for inviting me to join!

I finished!!! (well, mostly)

I've gotten almost everything done! All I need to do is make 2 doll skirts and its all finished. Just 1 day before Christmas!!

Here's the second ami doll for one of the twins. This one came out better than the first, so much so, that I feel bad giving one of the twins the first doll. But there's no time to make another, so I hope they appreciate them anyway. I found an easier way to attach the hair which made this doll a much more pleasant experience for me. (and for you crochet spotters, the afghan in the back is the football afghan from Vanna's afghans A to Z book. Made it for hubby a few years ago).



Here's my 19 year old sister's gift. It looks pink in the picture but is actually winter white in Patons Classic Merino Wool. Its one of my St. Maurus headwarmers and a scarf. The scarf pattern in the same one I've been using over and over again the last few months. Its fast, easy, and really pretty when done.



This is mom's gift. The pic is awfully dark, but you get the gist. Its a headwarmer and neckwarmer made from Patons Classic Merino Wool. The neckwarmer is just dc done for 9 rows...just long enough that it gives that crumpled look.



Last but not least, is an afghan I made for my grandfather. This is the swirls afghan from Quick and Easy Afghans. Most of the afghans in this book use an N hook and 2 strands of yarn. In the book, the afghan is all white, but I thought all white was impractical, so I used green and white. I finished this one back in June when I was layed up for 2 weeks when I was hurt. It was alot of work and I hope he likes it.



My poor dad isn't getting anything handmade, though I had wanted to make him a matching hat for the scarf I gave him for his birthday. I'll make him one as an after Christmas gift. Instead he's getting a dvd and a photo calendar.

I'm putting these gifts in baskets, and filling the baskets with a bunch of the goodies I made plus some homemade hot chocolate mix.

Santaland went well. The line was fairly long but moved fast. Pi got tongue tied when we got to see Santa and could barely eek out 2 words. She looked petrified but was fine once we left. I think the kid has anxiety issues. She gets really shy and nervous when she's around people she's not familiar with. She even bit her lip so badly before her Christmas show that its all blistered now. Poor kid. She's playing an angel today at Mass. She volunteered and only has 2 lines, so hopefully she won't be overly nervous.

Other than that, yesterday was spent doing chores. We scrubbed the apartment and did laundry. I even trimmed some of the plants. Well, I'd better run...lots to do today before Mass and then going to my aunt's house.

In case I don't post tomorrow, I want to wish you all a safe, healthy, happy, blessed, and Merry Christmas!!!!

Chrissy Crocker

That's what I feel like after the last two days.

I started baking last night after I got home from work until midnight and started baking this morning around 9 and didn't finish til 1. Exhausting but the goodies were well worth it.

Let me start with the rejects. I made chocolate chip muffins for breakfast this morning, but greased the pan in my sleepy stupor when I wasn't supposed to. The bottoms of the muffins burned because of that, but the rest taste great, so we just sliced off the bottoms and enjoyed the rest.

Last night Little Monster and I made the sugar cookie dough. This morning it was ready for baking and decorating. We used food coloring to make different color dough. Since I can't decorate with icing at all, we used decorating pens which were really cool and easy to use.

See the LJ on the round cookie all the way to the right? Pi says that means "Love Jesus." How cute is that?!?

This is just a sample of the sugar cookies. We made 5 dozen!

Last night I made caramel brownies. I was gifted this recipe by a former co-worker for my bridal shower and its been a family favorite since. There is a layer of brownie, a layer of mini chocolate chips, a layer of melted caramel, another layer of brownie, and topped with more chocolate chips. Theyr'e drool worthy!

Last but not least are walnut tassies. I was given this recipe by a current co-worker. Her recipe calls for pecans, but I had half a can of walnuts left over from something else and decided to use those. They're really good.

Laurah, the dough is made with cream cheese and butter and is filled with a creamy walnut mixture. If you want the recipe, I can post it. They are super simple and taste really good. They're not as sweet as the caramel brownies, but sweet enough to be a great snack.

Tomorrow I'll post pics of the Christmas gifts I've got done. I'm still plugging away on the amu doll, but with all the baking, not much happened with it today.

We're off to Santaland at Macy's Herald Sqaure now. Pi wants to see Santa and tell him she's been good. That's mostly true. :)

I'm alive!

I promise, I am! I've been crazy busy and haven't been able to take pics of anything. I've finished up my mother's and sister's gifts (headwarmers, a scarf and a neckwarmer) and I've also been working on the second ami doll.

Christmas baking is in full swing too. Tonight was caramel brownies, sugar cookies, and walnut tassies. All of that done after a full day of work. I'm exahusted!

I'll get pictures up sometime tomorrow. Hope everyone is gearing up and getting their projects done!

Today's letter of the day is "K"

I haven't started my 2nd ami doll yet (I am SO behind!).

A co-worker asked me to work up a quickie letter K to hang on her daughter's door as a small Christmas surprise. I agreed, thinking it would be a no-brainer. Not so!

Yesterday, I whipped up 3 different version of a K with no success. They were all ok, but I didn't love them. So I went to bed, thinking I'd sleep on it. This morning I started over, using some of the same homespun I'd made the beret from and it just came together! I like this K much better!! The flowers are little buttons I got on sale at Joanns. I'm thinking of making a P for Pi now.



I didn't have my camera at work, so I took a cell phone picture. The color is much more purple than the picture shows. You can see the color better HERE. I used the same yarn.

Ami Doll

I started making an ami doll for one of my twin sisters this weekend. This thing took forever. Maybe its because I'm new at ami and suck but one leg took me two hours! Is that normal? Or am I just yellow school bus special?

I used THIS pattern. The pattern itself is very easy to follow. I changed up the hair and face a bit. I didn't have any appropriate sized buttons for the eyes, so I decided to embroider them on. I'm no embroidery queen as you can tell.
Be honest, what do you think of the face?

Piper told me to my face that she liked it but told anonymous husband the face was scary when I wasn't around. Now I'm worried about whether the twins will like it or think I'm playing some cruel joke on them by giving them an elvira doll for Christmas. I don't know whether to make another or make a mad dash to the toy store. Help!

Personally, I think it sort of looks like Cathy from the comics and I like it. Oh yeah, and she's huge...20 inches tall!

Grannies for my Granny

Over the weekend, I finished this granny square afghan in different shades of blue and red for my paternal grandmother (not the one I'm giving the shawl to). The pic mutilated the colors, but there are 3 shades of red and 6 shades of blue. I've successfully used up all my blue yarn scraps! I've still got a few full skeins of blue but the scrap is gone! There is RHSS, Bernat, and Vanna's yarn all mixed up in there. Schizophrenic, eh?



The afghan measures about 49"x 61" with the border. Its taller than grandma...she's only 4'10" but she loves everything big. Her furniture is huge. I have to use my knee to climb on her bed, rather than just being able to sit on it like a normal sized bed. The afghan sort of has a retro feel to it and grandma is all about the retro. Can we say plastic covers on the sofas?

My eye is feeling much better. Its still slightly swollen, but it only looks like I haven't slept well. It doesn't hurt anymore and its not itchy. Getting better...woot!!!

Quote of the weekend:
Piper: "Mom, I think you've got a mustache."
Me: "I do not. Husband?"
Husband: "Kinda"
Me: "AH!"

For the record, I do not have a mustache, just baby fuzz that all women have!

The Good, The Bad, and The Infected

The Good: I made these awesome convertible gloves from THIS pattern. It was fast, easy, and they are totally cute! The mittens are not as dark as in this picture though. Now, you may notice that one mitten is quite a bit larger than the other. This brings us to The Bad



The Bad: My friend Rosie broke her finger while moving into her new house. She's got a removable cast on for at least 6 weeks. This cast doesn't fit into her regular mittens and its getting COLD out there! That's why I made one mitten larger than the other. One fits her normal hand and one fits her gimp hand.

That's Rosie sporting her gloves and showing you how the casted hand fits into her super-sized mitten. The color is much more accurate in this pic.

Isn't she gimp-tastic!!




Now, onto The Infected

My cold is finally winding down, but on Wednesday night, my left eye started feeling a little sore. I didn't think much of it until I woke up on Thursday and it was fairly swollen. There wasn't any gross gunk in it, so I thought that it was probably an allergic reaction to something. To what, I don't know, as I don't generally have allergic reactions to much. I figured I would wait to go the doctor...I've got a $25 co-pay and I didn't want to pay it unless I had to!

Fast forward to this morning. I look in the mirror and BAM! The swelling had spread to a good chunk of my skin underneath the eye too, heading towards my cheek. Yuck! So I made an appt. for the doc who promtly diagnosed me with having a bacterial infection in my eye. She said it was a good thing I hadn't waited longer because infection travels fast through your face. Double yuck! She prescribed me antibiotics, drops, and a steroid cream to reduce swelling.

The only cool thing is that I look like I got into a fight. I'm going to walk around my neighborhood with a pissed off face for the next few days. It'll be fun to pretend to be a bad-ass!

This bad-ass has to go weave in ends on 20 giant granny squares. Now that's gangsta.

St. Maurus Headwarmer

Gauge: 5 sc x 4 rows = 1.5 “
Materials: Patons Classic Marino Wool (less than 1 skein), a button, and an I (5.5mm) hook or any size hook to obtain gauge.


Body of headwarmer
Chain 76
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook and in next 4 chs, *ch.5, sk.5 chs, sc in next 5 chs.* Repeat from * to * across. (You will have 8 sc sections and 7 chain sections. These chain sections will create the Jacob’s ladder loops)


Rows 2 – 12: ch. 1, turn. *sc in next 5 sts, ch.5, sk.5 sts.*, repeat across.
Fasten off and weave in ends.


Sides
Row 1: On either short side of the body, attach yarn with a sl. st. and work 12 dc evenly across row. Ch.3, turn.

Row 2: Decrease in first 2 dc., dc across to last 2 dc, decrease in last 2 dc. Ch.3, turn.

Repeat Row 2 until there are only two dc left. Fasten off and weave in ends. Repeat on other short side.


To complete Jacob’s ladder loops
Starting at the bottom of the body, slip crochet hook under the two bottom chain 5 loops (as demonstrated in picture 2).


Picture 2

Pull the 2nd loop under the first loop. Then slip your crochet hook under the 3rd loop and pull through the 2nd loop. Continue in this manner until all loops are pulled through. Use a safety pin or sewing pin to keep the top 2 loops attached to each other. Repeat with all remaining chain sections.

When your Jacob's ladders are completed, it will look like Picture 3.

Picture 3

Border
Round 1: Join with a sl. st. to any stitch, ch.1, sc around the headwarmer. When you arrive at the pinned loops, 2 sc in the loops. This will secure both loops together.

Round 2: Sc around.

Fasten off and weave in ends.

Sew your button to one side of headwrap. There is no need to make a buttonhole, as the space between dcs serves nicely for this.

***Fun fact: St. Maurus is the Patron Saint against cold weather.***

Opinions please

Hey peeps, I've finished my second headwarmer. I narrowed it and like it much better this way. My sister is a good sport and let me take pics of her modeling it.

As per Laurah's suggestion, I'm going to try to submit this to the Crochet Pattern A Day Calendar. The deadline is this week, so I need your opinions FAST!

I've set up a poll to the right. Please vote and help me decide!! I'm only keeping the poll up til tomorrow afternoon or so, then I'm going to make the submission. Don't want to miss it!

I'm no photographer but I did my best. Which pic do you think I should submit with my pattern?

Picture A



Picture B




I'll also have the pattern posted in my next post.

To Latinboop:

****Edited to add: I now have a rough graph of my Puerto Rican Flag lapghan if anyone wants it. I say rough, because it is hand-sketched and hand-colored (it's clear though). I'll need to e-mail it to you as its a PDF file right now, so if you want it just e-mail me a request.

I'm hoping anonymous husband (who is much better with computer techy type stuff than me) will tweak it for me and make it look perfect. Once he does that, I'll post the pattern under my free pattern section and you won't need to e-mail me for it after that. ****


I just saw your request. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend going through chemo! I moved in September and have not totally organized yet, so I am not 100% sure where the diagram for the Puerto Rican flag is, but I will look for it tonight, I promise!

Please send me your e-mail address to christinacreations@gmail.com, so I know where to send the graph as soon as I find it.

Estaras en mis oraciones. (my Spanish is rusty, so I hope I said that correctly)

It was a raspberry beret,,,

The kind you find in a second hand store! Kudos to anyone who gets the reference. :)

So, this isn't quite a raspberry beret...more like a grape one, haha. If you remember a few posts back, I made a scarf out of purple homespun yarn for a co-worker. She asked me to make a matching beret for her.

My gauge must have been off because it came out a bit too small. I changed the rim a bit to adjust for the small size. I'm not nutty about it, but she likes it. Propbably because her head is smaller than mine and so looked better on her, even with the smaller gauge.

I used the Homespun Beret and Scarf pattern from the Lion Brand website. I tried linking it but blogger keeps giving me an error message.






I can't seem to get a clear picture of it. I'm not sure if its the color of the beret, the lighting, or the camera. Maybe its just me! I took it outside and the natural light helped a bit, but not quite enough. Any tips on good picture taking?

Angela, I used this recipe for the sugar cookies. They're so yummy!http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Rolled-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Christmas Joy!

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days folks. On Friday night, the cold that I thought was going away came back with a vengence. I managed to get some chores done on Saturday and we also picked up our Christmas tree before I started running a fever.

We had some drama finding the screws that went with the tree stand, so we weren't able to decorate until this morning when we found the screws. I also skipped church and a girl scout trip to get some much needed rest. I'm still sick, but I feel much better than I did this morning.

Here's our tree. I cut off the top of the pic..oops. We've got a lit angel on top of the tree. The tree we picked out this year smells wonderful!!! The smell of pine makes me SO happy. Its hard to see the tree skirt, but its a Disney one with all the characters dressed as toy soldiers. The skirt was a Christmas gift from my dad a few years ago.

This wooden bear is my favorite ornament. I bought it when I was pregnant and its been my favorite since. Something about it just says old school Christmas. Maybe because it doesn't light up or talk or need batteries. LOL

Here I am being silly with a wreath I made last year. I normally don't take pics without makeup, but when you're sick, you just don't care. haha. Pi's face is hysterical in this pic!!!

I felt bad that we skipped the girl scout trip, so I promised my little monster that we'd break in the new cookie cutters I got for my birthday and bake sugar cookies. We haven't decorated them yet, but they're tasty even without icing!!

I've done a little crocheting this weekend, though not as much as I'd like.

With curly hair, its nearly impossible to wear a regular hat in the mornings when my hair is wet. If I do, I end up with flat hair on top...not a good look! So I wanted a headwrap that would cover my ears and forehead but leave the back of my hair open.

After a few days of sketching and playing with gauge, I came up with this. Its a headwrap with jacob's ladder for texture. I really like it! Its just a bit too wide for me. so before I write up the final pattern, I'm going to change the width to make it a bit more narrow at the top.

Side view. I added a button to make it easy to put on and take off. Tell me what you think. Suggestions on changes?

If you've made it this far, I'll reward you with a funny video. I bought the dancing Santa in that video when Pi was 2. She didn't take an interest in it until she was 5, but let me tell you, the kid LOVES this thing now! She looks forward to it nearly as much as the tree itself. She plays it and dances along to it NON-STOP!!

Its the kind of thing I'll need to show her boyfriends when she grows up.

(just so you know, I asked Pi's permission to post that)

Quickie project

My friend Rosie (hi Rosie!) just bought her first house and moved in right after Thanksgiving. I made her a small Christmas tree as a small housewarming gift.

Its made of folded granny squares, pom poms, ribbon and I added a suction cup so she can hang it in her kitchen window. I got the idea for the granny tree from a lady over at Crochetville, though I didn't follw the pattern.

Seraphina's Shawl Finished!

Tonight I finished Seraphina's shawl! *happy dance!!*

I didn't make it nearly as long as Doni's pattern suggests, because I think this length and weight is perfect for Grandma.

I used Caron Simply Soft and an "I" hook. Because I used a smaller hook and less bulky yarn, the stitches were tighter than in the original pattern, actually making the shawl pleasantly heavy and pretty warm. I used about 2 and a half skeins...approximately 15 ounces (about 425 grams).

(Please excuse my uneven hair...either some of it is behind the shawl or I need a haircut even more than I'd thought!)



Here it is wrapped around me.



You can see the stitches in the pattern better in this pic.



Once I got past the first 12 rows or so, this pattern was a breeze and worked up really fast. I love the way it feels and looks so much, that I plan on making myself one after I'm done with my Christmas crocheting. I'd like to use something variegated or stripey for mine.

Angela, I think next time I make this, I'll be using a bigger hook like you!

Laurah, my view isn't as pretty as yours, LOL. :)

Soley Granny Square Hats!

Laurah is the first person to make a granny hat from my pattern! I never had it tested, so she's technically my first tester! Thanks Laurah!

She gives alternate hooks sizes to make the hat toddler and child sized. She also put her own round granny spin on the second hat. I love it.

Laurah, your hats look better than mine! Also, your photography is amazing!

Go check out her site, peeps! thekidneybean

Weekend Wrap-up

Good news! Its not my camera that died, but my memory card. That can be replaced alot easier than the camera. My genius husband also figured out that I can use my phone's memory card for the camera, so I snuck in a few pics this weekend.

First, the fundraiser. Total bust.

The only people who did well with selling anything were the ones selling necessities (shower curtains, sheets, etc.) and people selling used junk (used stuffies, old toys, etc.). Anyone selling things that can be considered extras didn't do so well. I had many items priced under a dollar, so its not that I was too expensive.

Lots of people came over to admire the scarves, ornaments, and other stuff I had on the table but very few bought. i sold a purse, headband, and a few bags of fudge. My free samples were a hit of course, LOL.

Hubby and I think it turned out this way because of the demographics of the neighborhood. Its very much a working class neighborhood and people seem to be looking for things they need and must have rather than fun scarves or purses. It was a good learning experience though and I'm glad we tried!

Here's a pic of Little Monster and I at our table.



Here's a close-up of the table.



The good thing about sitting at the fundraiser for awhile was all the work I put into my Seraphina Shawl! When put over my shoulders, it almost reaches my elbows. I'm going to keep going...want it to reach my wrists. Its definitely going much faster now that I'm in the repetetive stage.



I'm off to make some tea. Still fighting my cold.

ETA: I brought 9 of the scarves from the fundraiser to work and left them on my desk to see if anyone might be interested. It's only 9:30 in the morning and I sold 5 of them! Wootwoot!

*sniffles*

I haven't been able to figure out my camera problem yet. Working on it, but I'm sorry for the lack of pics. I'm going to charge up my super old one today, so I can get a pic of the shawl. I only finished another 2 rows, due to a ridiculous amount of sleeping that I've been doing.

On Friday, my throat started to feel sore and I knew I was getting sick. Bleh! Friday night I went to bed at 9(!) and slept til 6:30 yesterday morning.

Yesterday, we went ice skating with girl scouts, then straight to mass. Would you know I was falling asleep in church, to the point that anonymous husband noticed! We got home a little after 6 and I was asleep by 6:30. Its now nearly 5 am and I just woke up. I still feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest and someone left the faucet on in my nose.
And today is the fundraiser. Go me for timing!!

Pi's testing went well. The girl hasn't given me the results yet but told me she did really well. She even paid Pi with candy, LOL.

Jinky, caron is a brand of yarn, like red heart or patons. Caron simply soft is 100% acrylic but it much softer than red heart. I like to use it on baby items or things that shouldn't be too stiff, like a shawl!

edited to add:

Laurah, no we weren't outside. We went to Sky Rink in Chelsea Piers which is a cool rink that is open all year round! My favorite rink is Wollman rink in Central Park...I love the scenery there.

Oh and my husband laughed at me because I made my feet "pretty" just in case I got hurt. Back in June, I had fallen down some steps and sprained both ankles and my back, so I was fairly convinced this skating trip would lead to the hospital (which it didn't, thank the Lord!). But I scrubbed, moisturized and painted my toenails pink. Can't have ugly feet in case someone's got to look at them! I know...my priorities are all screwed up!

One more thing I forgot to mention...Julianna Moore was at the rink! As I was skating, I thought this woman looked familiar and stared at her for a minute to figure it out. She must have felt me looking, because she glanced up at me and when she did I knew who she was right away. She gave me a not so nice look, so I turned my head and kept skating. I'm not the kind to get star struck, so I wasn't going to start sqwuaking at her or anything, but she must be used to that. Just thought that was a fun thing to mention.

Thanks for the tea advice...I'm going to make some right now.

My camera went kaplooey

I wanted to show you the progress I made on my Seraphina shawl, but my camera is acting wonky. Hubby and I are going to pull out the manual tonight and see if we can figure out what's wrong. I've gotten another 2 full sequences done (8 rows) and its gotten so much easier! Its now a subway project!!

I also made fudge last night, which came out sooo good. Also wanted to take pics of that to make you drool but my camera mojo is gone for now.

Soooo, get this...

A mass e-mail went out from a doctoral student at my grad school. As an alum, I still get e-mail from the school everyday. Anyway, this student was looking for volunteers for an experiment....errr, I mean study. She is trying to do intelligence testing on children anywhere from 6-16, but was having a hard time finding kids. Not many grad students have kids, I guess.

First thought in my head was "I know how hard it is to find volunteers...that's gotta suck."

Second thought in my head was "Hey, free intelligence testing on the kid!" Is that wrong of me? LOL

I asked Pi is she was willing to help and she was (with some convincing), so this student is coming to our apartment tonight to give Pi the WISC intelligence test. Pi knows she can stop at any time or take a break whenever she needs it. I think it'll be neat to find out just how genius my little monster is.

Oh frustration!

I decided I was going to make a shawl for my 81 year old grandmother for Christmas. At first I had chosen the Simply Soft Shawl on the Caron website and ordered 3 skeins of simply soft in grape.

Then I saw the Half Moon Shawl (Laura's version is amazing!) and thought I would do that.

But the Seraphina Shawl keeps catching my eye. I've seen a bunch of these on Crochetville lately and think they are amazing! I've read how difficult the pattern is to understand, so was very hesitant to start.

Tonight, anonymous husband was taking a nap and Little Monster was playing with barbies in her room, so I had a rare hour to myself and figured I would give it a shot. Oh frustration!

The written instructions are ok the first few rounds but quickly spiral into mass confusion (at least for me!). If it wasn't for the pictures and counting stitches, I would have given up already. But I'm stupidly stubborn, kept going, and am now on Row 12!! Woohoo!

Lemme tell you, this is no subway project!

I'm using Caron simply soft in grape and an "I" hook. I have 3 skeins of this grape and am praying that it'll be enough to finish it. So far, I love the way it looks!



I know I've got a long way to go, but I'm stoked I got this far!

Back to the 80's!

Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes my way!! Also a big thanks to Mary for the super huge, delicious cupcake with the Reese's cups on top. Yum! My day was great, even with the minor dental surgery I had in the afternoon.

Fun fact: if your dentist jams a needleful of novacaine in your upper gum REALLY high up there, your nose will go numb too. Learned that today, LOL!

In thanks for all your cyber-goodness, I'm rewarding you with a blast from the past. This is me, circa June 1986 - Kindergarten graduation. Do you notice, in comparison to my profile pic, how my half smirk/half smile hasn't changed much? LOL



I was also super productive as far as craftiness goes. I finally got a fire under my butt and finished the santa hat ornaments. I couldn't find white poms poms (no craft stores here, grrr), so I used small cotton balls and glued them on as well as possible. Whatever, they are done!



I also made a stocking for our own Christmas tree.

I made these clutch bags months ago, but never got around to lining them. Why, you ask? Because, generally, I hate sewing. Why do I hate sewing you ask? Because, well, I suck at it! Thanks to a co-worker, I can backsew well enough to line purses now, but thats as far as I can go.

Here's a pic of the lining/inside. I used the same lining as I did for my fat bottom bag. I love this lining...its thick, sturdy, and very pretty. Umm, and yes, that is my pasty arm in the corner.

Not much else going on. I'll be mailing out some Holiday ROAKs today. Nothing fancy...just some cards and a few handmade goodies for some of the ladies over at the 'ville. Is it just me, or does anyone still find the 'ville more enticing than Ravelry? Maybe I am crazy, but its still my fav place!