A Good Day

Although you probably can't tell it from my blogging schedule, I've finally gotten over the summer lazies and have begun the productive phase. I do this same thing every break, waste a couple weeks doing nothing and then suddenly decide I have to DO something. I've been making lists and getting stuff done all week.

*I've started my online class, Technical Writing. It shouldn't be too bad. I have to write a sales letter and a user manual among other things, but no 10 page papers. Thank God!

*I've applied to a few places for a job. So far I've applied at Michael's, JoAnn's, a scrapbook store and Kohl's. Still hoping for a call...

*There was a bit of a booboo in my mom's taxes from '04 (which I did for her) so I had to write a letter to get that straightened out.

*More cross stitching (progress pictures eventually, it doesn't grow very quickly though).

*I've finished up a bit of spinning. I spin until I feel it's about full, then roll it off onto a toilet paper roll and try to spin the same amount to ply with it. Halfway to a skein of yarn, woohoo!

*I've managed to clean up a bunch of my clutter, like my desk and our file drawer.

And the biggest accomplishment, I finally got my butt in gear and signed up for Weight Watchers. My aunt goes on and on about how amazing it is and finally convinced me to try it. Well, and a girl who works with my mom's financial planner wanted to start too so I had a buddy. I'm so pumped to get going and lose some weight. I'l try to post my progress from time to time to keep me honest.

Mom Update
I really should rename this the Mommy and Me blog ;) My mom is doing really really well. She's now been through two sessions of chemo and still she's up and active. There has been a bit of nausea and constipation, but nothing bad at all. SUCH a relief.

Summer Of...WHAT?

Everyone is getting ready for a summer of great crafty projects. Some are getting ready for a summer of lace, others for a summer of socks or a summer of tank tops. Me? I'm a week into my own "Summer of Cross-Stitch." Thanks to some amazing inspiration from a friend I decided that I can manage an hour a day of pretty much anything, even this darn cross-stitch. And of course me with my obsessive personality haven't been able to put it down since. Here's the latest picture.



Ignore the hoop, I'm too lazy to take it off. So yeah, that's what I've been up to.

Actually last night I couldn't get to sleep and got out of bed at midnight to do a little spinning. I haven't done it in a while and it didn't go terribly well. I have such a problem with starting up again when I let the yarn get too thin and it breaks. So frustrating! But I'm going to try and practice a bit each day (maybe I'll actually do it this time) and hope I can get a little better at it. I have to make some progress if I want to be able to justify buying a wheel.

I finally updated my sidebar too, just FYI. So, back to cross-stitching :)

Sweet

Well, I haven't been doing much to speak of. I've spent most of today lazing and tweaking my blog. I'm such a perfectionist! I got my Sophie done. I LOVE it. Well, it isn't completely done. I haven't felted it yet (my felting party was a no-go). But I know it's going to be sweet! I got another finger done on my mittens, I'm thinking of skipping the thumb and starting the flap cause I'm not feeling like picking up stitches right now. I even worked on my boring but oh-so-pretty scarf. And I've committed to Wednesdays for x-stitch day. Don't let me slack on that now!

I need a coat. It's now oficially winter weather and I refuse to wear my hideous coat from last year. Yeah, I wore it last winter, but I didn't like it. It's too poofy and I can barely sit down in it. We won't discuss how it is on the bus; I take up about 1.5 seats lol. Not to mention it doesn't match any of my new scarves (or planned scarves). Ok, maybe it wasn't sensible to make and plan scarves/hats/etc. that don't match my current coat, but they're soo pretty. So I've decided to beg my daddy for a coat that will match my scarves, oh and one that fits better too. Yeah, the fit, that's what I'm concerned about. Right...

Stuff

How's it going? There are some ups, and some downs. My x-stitch is going SUPER well. I've gotten a ton done and am actually getting back into it. Yaay me and my boyfriend-beating self! Beating as in bet winning, not like physically abusing, though he might disagree lol. Of course that comes at a cost, and the price is my mittens. They haven't seen much action the past few days. Poor mittens :( And then there's the fun fur scarf. It was about a foot of scarf, but it's a scarf no more. I decided to knit in the car on the way to Johnson County to see my dad. Great idea! I loved it (although it took a minute to figure out what to do with my not-center-pull ball of yarn). When we got there I wrapped the ball of yarn in the scarf and stuck the other needle through it to keep everything together. Another great idea or so I thought. So I get back in the car after a great dinner at Olive Garden (mmmmm, fettucine alfredo) and go to yank out the spare needle. Of course I don't do that do I? I pull out the needle with the stitches on it. Arrrg! And I really tried to pick up stitches, right at the top, further down, ripping down and then trying there. It just didn't work with the stupid novetly yarn. So today I took a few minutes and ripped the whole thing and rewound the ball. I'm actually sorta glad, cause I don't want to have too many projects going and I'm dying to try this other scarf. It's gonna be some pink novelty yarn with white wool. I love pink! So I guess it'll all end well...

A New Friend!

Why does school have to be so demanding and get in the way of my crafting?!? Grrr. Hasn't been much getting done the past few days due to responsibilities and pure exhaustion. In good news, the mysterious missing x-stitch reappeared Monday. Of course that's after we spent all day cleaning out the closet because I swore that was the only place it could be (it was under the couch, *shrugs*). The contents of our closet literally took up our entire apartment, how sad is that? So now the bf is getting WAYYY too cocky about our bet, so I must finish the x-stitch by New Years.

My mittens are finally starting to come along. I finally got past the 4th row without dropping multiple miniscule stitches or otherwise screwing up. I even was able to rescue a couple stitches that I did drop (it required 2 extra dps and a ballpoint...). I haven't gotten to any of the shaping, but am hoping to make something resembling progress this weekend.

And I wanna say hi to Knitting Virgin (http://treasuregoddesschic.blogspot.com/), the first person to comment on my blog :) I feel so loved!

I Get It!

Every once in a while I check out the blogs on my reads list and even look for some new ones, and it cracks me up when someone writes about hating a certain project, or a project disliking them. I didn't get it, but now I do. The newest addition to my WIP list is the Broad Street Mittens from Knitty. I am probably not nearly experienced enough to make it through them, but I decided to jump right in. They're making me NUTS!!! First of all this is the first thing I've knit with a needle under an 8. The 2's are sooo tiny, and it uses sock weight yarn which is also a first for me. Together they make me feel like my fat fingers are trying to use a dolls knitting set. I've started them 3 times already (which isn't THAT many, but it feels like it). I think this is it though...knock on wood. I'm really excited to see how they turn out, if we can just get along long enough for me to finish them. So far I'm 3 rows in...

My fun fur scarf is my easy project, simple stockinette on 11's. My boyfriend asked me how many scarves I really need. I don't know...I just can't give them away, they're too pretty! I'm thinking of making a bunch of scarves for my family's Christmas Eve party and just letting people take one if they want, but 1. I don't know how many to make and 2. I don't want to get attatched to one and then get all upset if someone wants it lol. We'll see what happens.

And in other crafting news, my cross-stitch is still AWOL. If anyone knows where it is, please email me. It'll be the not even halfway done cottage looking lonely in it's gallon size Ziploc :)

Inches

Gotten another couple inches done on my poncho. I got really excited cause techinically I should only have maybe 8 inches left. Unfortunately, I tried it on and due to my bigness, it looks like it will have to be at least another 20. Oh well, I'm enjoying the process, I just REALLY wanna wear it!! Still no action on the cross-stitch (Jaime's totally gonna win this bet) and no supplies for the earrings yet. Wish all this fun crafting stuff didn't cost so much! I do oh so love shopping to support my habits though.

My newest obsession

As usual, I have turned away from my other hobbies for the time being to focus on my new love, knitting. So far I've finished 2 scarves (though one was hideous and I started like 7 years ago) and one hat (which still needs to be felted). I'm working on a simple pot holder for Jaime (the bf), but it isn't that interesting so I've set it aside for my baby, my poncho. This is going to be the yummiest poncho ever. It's super simple (free pattern http://fuzzygalore.biz/patterns/spiky.shtml), but it looks like it might take a while. I'm using Homespun yarn from Lion and it's so nice. It's kinda an oatmeal color. I've been working on it for two days and it's only 10" (out of over 50"). Just means I can enjoy it for a while longer.

I do need to get back into cross-stitching though. Jaime bet me $100 that I couldn't finish this like 13" x 20" picture I started at least 7 years ago. I have till the first of the year and I don't know if I can make it. I'd love the money though :)