hey long time no post

so i have some f.o.s to finally post. i've been slacking hard core on the crafting. its hard to craft when i'm in such a funk. hopefully the new year will bring some good my way, i'm tired of life sucking so badly. anyhoo lets go.
first up: not so f o's. these are some bibs i've been making for my sisters baby. she is a confirmed she. alexis will be her name and i cannot wait to meet her. the plan is to finish these with a layer of something in the middle that won't absorb liquids too much and back them with some cute fabric. these are just tea towels that i cut into a bib shape (from k-mart) and some embroidery from sublime stitching.
sweets: breakfast:

next up: a hat i knit for mando. it came out ridiculously small. the skull is a candle holder that's about the same size as a 2 yr old's head. it was supposed to look like a water polo hat. his bro owns a water polo company and he wants to get some hats like this made to sell. i got this far and gave up. i'll try again someday soon. i based it off this pattern from knitty.

and finally the box bag made off of this tute. this is a quick and dirty one. i made it today. i used some of the leftover skeleton print from cheeks' halloween costume and some random red fabric i had lying around. i didn't use interfacing in it cuz i was just plain lazy so its kinda floppy and i left the handle off it for the same reason (and i think this will live in my purse). i plan on making some (better ones) for my mom and sis and putting their hand-made x-mass gifts in them. thats one good thing about not going home for x-mass, i have more time to make my gifts. all hand-made this year since the hospital decided to bill me for going in. what jerks, eh?


nothing like crafting alone on christmas! actually, it wasn't too bad. i cleaned and made myself breakfast and got some crafting done. it really was a productive day. i opened gifts over the phone with my mom and sis this morning and now i'm gonna go get all gussied up to see some pals over at the brewery! happy christmas!

update

so i haven't updated since nov 3rd or so. ok what has been happening? um... my pal gavin got a puppy who is pretty damn cute and will get a nice comfy hand-made doggy bed when he gets bigger. i spent thanksgiving with my lovely pal tiff and we cooked up a storm. it was more fun than it should have been. we hung out in our jammies all day stuffing our faces and doing laundry. later that night we went to brady's to see all our pals but i went home early because i was feeling achy in my throat. i thought it was just gonna be a cold but it ended up being much, much worse and later in the month i was admitted to the hospital for a day. my tonsils has swollen up so much that i couldn't eat or even swallow water. after the third day of choking down only a couple sips of tomato soup and chicken broth i drove myself to drs on duty to pay them $150 to tell me to go to the er. i spent the day in the er on morphine, ivs and antibiotics. my momma and grammie drove up from so.cal. to take care of me and stayed about a week. after taking a lot of antibiotics and a lot of pain killers i am back in shape. since then i have just been working, trying to make up for the week of work i lost and to pay for the dr bills. gav, sal, and i have been bowling on mondays and i really suck at it, i never break 80! and tuesday is neighborhood night at the brewery so i have been going there to meet up with pals. its nice to get out every now and agian! buddy came up for a week and we went to his company christmas party which was a lot of fun. we went bowling and partied like rockstars. ok, not really. but we did have a good time. other than that things have been pretty normal. i need to get on the crafting asap!

comfort food

so since things have been pretty blegh around here i thought i might make some comfort food. its not the best meal i've ever made, and the two things don't really go well together but i'm happy and thats all that matters. so what did i make? tuna casserole and stuffing. i get my carbs (and plenty of 'em) that i won't be using since i'm prolly just gonna go to bed soon, and the cats got to eat some tuna, so everyone is happy! for the moment, at least

cheeks in his costume!!!

here are some pix of cheeks in his costume! his momma loves it and so do i!

finally some crafting

so, i have crafted, but i haven't posted. but here is something i am proud of, its a skeleton costume for my cheeks (the cutest kid ever). its made of flannel from simplicity pattern 3594, view c, the lion, but without the mane, tail and ears. i free-hand painted the bones on. i'm not sure if they are going to use the hood since its been so warm in socal. i'm quite pleased with it and i hope they will be too. yay! on to the pix.
front and back


hood and lining


feeeeeets.

the paint is drying so its all different colors but it should look good once its dry. i'm going to overnight it tomorrow morning.

crafting accomplished

well, some of it anyway. but no pictures to show for it. i have *finally* gotten the knitted puppy done. i'm quite proud, its just waiting for stuffing and then it will be done. it really should have been a faster knit but since i only knit a few rows at a time it took forever. and the other night since i got flaked on for a date (again, wtf? and by the same guy, he's lucky he's cute) i made a new skirt (from this tute), which i also have no pictures of. why? because it needs to be washed so that the fabric lays right. but its a cute wrap skirt in that cute white black and red fabric i bought and blogged about a while back, still enough left to make a cute baby dress, should i get blessed with a niece. i will post pix when things are stuffed/washed. oh and has anyone seen that show on mtv about that kid from san clemente? ryan something-or-other, the pro-skateboarder? yeah, i don't know who he is either. but keep your eyes peeled for dani, my little sis, since shes pals with him so she might end up on one of the episodes.

raven's quilt

so this took me forever to finish, mainly because the shit has hit the fan around here as they say. the binding is just on there with that heat bond stuff. i will eventually sew it on but i have been too lazy. but here it is in all its glory.

the knitted puppy is coming along slowly and i'm drafting my first pattern for clothing! the top of the dress is proving more difficult than i anticipated. wish me luck.

what was i thinking?!?

i was moving my sewing desk today when i realized, its a craft in itself! i made my sewing desk with a pal over 2 years ago and it has served me well. i guessed on how big it should be based on my room at the time and i'm glad i made it so big. i bought the little baskets and then used those as guides for the shelves. its not the most beautiful thing, but its mine and i'm proud of it. we didn't have a table saw so we had to cut everything by hand. what that means is that it is all wonky. it work for me!

some crafting

so, the knitted puppy is slow going. i just can't focus on it right now for some reason, i can't really focus on much of anything actually. however, i forced myself to sit down and bust these out. i'm bringing home a new kitten on monday and wanted something both to make him feel cozy and to have a way to get him used to my other cats' scents. while i was whipping up his blanket the other 2 cats decided they were going to take it over, so i did what any good crafty pet owner would do, i made them some too. these are just the tops, i have to find something good for the back, and i don't think i will be putting any batting on the inside, they don't really need to so warm, as i suspect they will be laying on them,not under them. anyhoo, here we go:
first is luna's quilt. then, raven's (he looks so good against red)
and then, phinneaus'. these are 24''x24''. not all the squares line up but hey, they're not too bad considering i only spent a few hours on them, and most of that time was spent cutting out all the damn squares.

some changes

so, it seems i didn't make it to test the "sweater curse," i was unlucky enough to deal with the "sock curse" i guess. i got one sock done. ah well, he can have one sock, i'm sure as hell not going through the effort of knitting him another one now. he also only has one glove. maybe i should just frog them and use the yarn for something else.
its not all bad, now i have time to work on the puppy from knitted toys by zoe mellor for my niece (we decided she's having a girl, we don't know for sure yet, but here's hoping). i'm using neither the recommended yarn nor needle size and i was figuring that it would come out a little big, which would be fine, but it is coming out a little small. i bought way too much yarn for this project and it is knitting up pretty quickly so i am thinking about making one for my friends' baby's birthday.
in other news: my car still isn't running but i am hoping to get it fixed soon so i can get myself out of the house for a while and have some fun. the bus is not fun. i do, however, have great friends who drove almost 2 hours to pick my sorry ass up and take me back to their house so we could have some good times. we had a lot of fun and ended up calling our other friend because we missed him so much (yes, we were inebriated) and at some point came up with the craftiest (not crafty like me, crafty like boris from bullwinkel) plan to get him to move to california again. part of the plan involves telling him about the plan. wish us luck.
and last, but not least, a certain mom of a good friend of mine needs to get an etsy shop up and i am more than happy to help out, wink wink, nudge nudge.

one down, 85473 to go!

today i finished my reversible tote bag from this tute. i love how it came out.
most of the fabric i had in my stash, but the stuff i used for the straps i bought at the thrift store and it was too bright so i dyed it a little darker with some dark blue dye. i'm quite pleased with how it came out. i used snaps instead of the velcro for closing the pockets and i added some ribbon to tie the top closed in the middle. i used the contrasting fabric to make the pockets stand out a little more and i used black for the insides of the pockets. i think it looks kinda nautical so i'm considering making a stencil of a pirate ship or something pirate-y to put on the plain pockets. i messed up the straps so they twist a bit but i don't mind it all that much. this bag is really roomy and i don't quite know what i will use it for but i think it would be great as a beach or overnight bag. i'm sure i will find a use for it and i'm thinking of making another one for my sister for a diaper bag. now for some pics!

in knitting news, the bus has given me plenty of time to knit and i am almost done with the sock, but i have a friend coming to visit so i don't think i will get much knitting done. i got some yarn for one of the billion projects i'm going to start and i have so far only wound it into balls. i think i will wait to start on a new project until i finish another one. i am still waiting on the ebay yarn, the tracking number tells me that it is currently in customs (it's coming from japan) so i should have it soon, but i still don't know what i'm going to do with it.

the day of fouled up projects

i ordered yarn and it was supposed to get here today. the tracking thingy even says that it was in route to my house as of 6:32 am but it is not here! and the damn post office is right down the street from my house! i know it will be here tomorrow but i have today off and i was excited about getting started on this project.

i had started making a bag using this tutorial and i was planning on finishing it today (while waiting for my yarn) but i realized half way through that i ran out of fabric. there is some in the tub dying so it will match because i ran out of fabric of the right color. i went to the thrift store to look for something that will work but found nothing to match, though i did find some other findings and some fabric that was 1/2 off! on the way back home i "accidentally" passed by the 1/2 off table at the local fabric store (that is usually too expensive for my budget) and found some really cute fabric i decided to use as a backing for the baby blanket i will eventually make for my sister's baby. i also found a rack of 40% off fabric which was buy 3 yards get the 4th yard free, so i had to get some, and the lady was so glad to get rid of some of it that she threw in a couple extra yards for free!. i'm not sure what it will be, one is black and red, and one black and grey, so not so good for the baby but something cute for me! the third fabric is cream with black and red on it and would make a cute dress for a girl baby, if thats what she ends up having.

in other news, the guy who is supposed to look at my car was supposed to come over sunday but he never showed up and didn't call until 20:30. we rescheduled for today and he was supposed to be here around 15:00 but he still hasn't shown up and it is 20:10 already. i wonder if i am ever going to get my car fixed.

new beads!

so this is not MY craftiness but they are too great not to share. i got these beads as a birthday gift from my friend's talented mama. so here they are:

first up: the frog sting-o-beads. the frog has pretty purple eyes. there are 4 other beads on this string.


next up: octopus bead. this is a really pretty white with black spots octopus. there are 2 more beads on this string.the third string is the fishy string. there are 4 other beads on this string, my favorite being the long one, the colors blend so beautifully!.

mini-crafting

i really wanted to sew today, but i just cleaned the 2nd bedroom where our extra stuff is (including all my crafting stuff) and that room also has the futon where our visitors stay. my best friend is coming up tomorrow night to stay for the weekend so we can go to our other friend's 21st birthday party. i know that if i pull out my stuff to sew i won't clean it up until later and i don't want to leave the room a mess for when he gets here. instead, i did a little mini-crafting to hold me over until monday.
i had this little chick-egg thing left over from easter that was filled with candy and i needed a pin cushion for when i am sewing (i have the tomato one but my cats like to play with it so it stays in my desk holding all my pins). i think it turned out rather cute.

so that i feel like i have been doing SOMETHING here is some progress on the sock (my 1st sock, btw) i am knitting for my hunny. i wish he had smaller feet, this is taking forever. i guess now that my car broke down and i will be taking the bus home i will have plenty of time to knit! (the bus takes 45 minutes to get me where i could drive in less than 15, blegh)
the yarn is knitpicks superwash merino in bare. i dyed it with rit dye and it was supposed to be black and dark green. obviously it came out purple and not-so-dark green. i don't know if it was because the dye isn't good for yarn or i didn't use enough but i don't think i will be using rit anymore. i got the pattern online somewhere but the printed copy is floating around here somewhere and i am too lazy to find it so i will post it at a later date. i hope to get done with this sock soon so i can start the other one, and i am about an inch and a half to the heel. the pattern was daunting at first but now i have the rhythm and it is going so much more quickly.

EDIT: i lied. the pattern in the "toe up" socks from interweave knits.

the dangers of EWD (ebaying while drunk)

so, i had a few drinks and then went on ebay and bid on a buncha stuff. luckily, i only won 3 of the 7 auctions i was bidding on. oh, and the "buncha stuff" was 6 yarn auctions and one for a swift. i didn't win the swift (the price got so high that i could have bought one in the store for the same price and not had to pay shipping, so it was no longer a deal). now i have a lot of cool yarn coming my way, but i don't think i like any of it for knitting for the baby and that is pretty much all i will be knitting for a while, besides finishing my WIPs. note to self: turn computer OFF when drinking so this doesn't happen again.

one of the million projects i'm working on

this is one of the many projects i have going on right now but i have pictures of it so i thought i might as well post my progress. this is a hat that i am working on for my friend rivers. needless to say i have a lot more to do.


the pattern is maze from knitty.com i am using patons shetland chunky tweeds in charcoal and biscuit. i am going to make it a little longer than the pattern calls for so that he can pull it over his ears when it is cold.

stupid jerk of a car

so, on july 4th my car broke down. i was on my way to work and it started overheating and making a beautiful metal-on-metal sound. now it is pouring coolant out the bottom and i am afraid to drive it. i needs moneys to buy a new car. at least now i can't be the d.d. when we all go out!

new blog!

so, i have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now, not for anything important, just my silly little crafts. i put off setting one up because i really don't think i craft all that often; but then today, today i found out that my sister is having a baby! this means that i will have a little one to knit and craft for, and therefore i will be doing it a lot more often, thus, my blog is born.
so now some stuff about me:
i am 22 years old, but that will change on sunday, i will turn 23. i live in a little apartment in felton (near santa cruz, ca) with my boyfriend and our 2 cats, but in all honesty, i am a dog person. i currently work in santa cruz at an irish pub. i love to read, learn, and spend time outdoors. i am a big history nerd, especially when it comes to pirates (the real kind, not the fantasy swash-buckleing yo-ho types) and the renaissance. i listen to NPR and i love it so much that i get their podcasts on my ipod. i am a photographer and i sew, knit, scrapbook, embroider, stencil, cook, and bake, but not often enough. i would love to never have to go to work and instead spend my time doing these things. nothing bothers me more than people living up to their stereotypes, rudeness, and bad grammar. that being said, i tend to not use capitals, unless i am "shouting" when typing online. i speak spanish and i sign, and i half speak german, that is, i kinda speak german. well, i don't speak enough to live in germany but i can kinda watch german tv and understand it, sometimes.
i do not make any apologies for being who i am. i am thankful to be me and who i have become. not everything in life is happy and pleasant but i feel that what we do with those negative things and how we react to them is what makes us better or worse as people. i am not perfect and would never claim to be, i am only who i am. i will rant, swear, bitch and moan in some of these posts, i'm sure of it. therefore, anyone who is too sensitive to read the f word every now and again should not read this blog; it won't be too frequent but i'm sure it will be there someitmes.
i don't expect anyone to read my blog, i don't expect it to be very interesting to anyone but me. the main reason i started a blog was because i would look at other crafter's blogs and wish i had one, that i could show my creations off to the world proudly. this blog is more of one of those things i will use to tell my friends "go check out what i made, it's on my blog." this blog is only to satisfy my own ego.
ok, thats about it for now, i guess. i really don't need to say much more because, after all, this is MY blog and so anyone who reads this will find out enough about me as time progresses.