Birthday! Hooray!

Happy birthday to me! Yesterday was my 21st birthday. I had lots of fun with my parents and JB and my aunt. We all went out for drinks (I did not last very long). I bought myself the new white iphone as a present. Coolest thing ever. I just don't know how people lived before technology. Anyways, we'll get back to the important stuff. The squares! Last week was crazy and I'll admit I'm way behind on my Square-A-Day-in-May project. I'm working on the 3rd square now, Maggie's square, and I'm having a really tough time. My crochet skills have made serious progress and my technique is improving but I still struggling with some of the more complex stitches. The Xdc in Maggie's square is driving me crazy. It just won't work like it's supposed to!

This is the Amethyst square, the first square of may. I think I made 4 attempts before this one. I'm still not totally happy with it, but I have learned a lot.Wanna know a secret? Don't tell anyone. I forgot the last row on one side. I tied off too soon. >< Maybe I will come back to this one later.

Square 2, "Kata". I found this square to be much easier! By this pattern I was comfortable with the hdc and was establishing some good tension habits. The picture came out a little fuzzy but it was taken while dodging cats. They loved this yarn and can't get enough of this fabric.

2 down, 7 to go. I plan on playing some serious catch up this week.

A-Square-A-Day-In-May

The "Yarnarian" is one of my favorite blogs. She always has something wonderful going on! The yarns she dyes are breathtaking and I long to someday be a blogger of her caliber! Anyways, while I was checking out her blog this morning I stumbled across a group she is supporting called A-Square-A-Day in-May.

The idea is to crochet 1 granny square a day for the entire month of may. It sounds like fun and will give me chance to brush up on my crocheting skills (anybody that has read my earlier posts will know that crocheting and I do not have a good history.)

I have a TON of scrap yarn laying around the house. This will be a good use for it all. I found this mini stash in a box in my closet! These are all leftovers from projects over the years. I will admit that I may have misrepresented the size of this stash in the photo. There was probably 6 times the depicted amount, I was embarrassed to show it all.

 

After digging through my many piles of yarn in search for some good scrap, JB came home. He took one look around and literally forbade me from bringing home anymore of it. "You are forbidden from bringing another piece of yarn into this house until at least some of it is gone". Sadly, this is actually a reasonable request.

So, I am ready for May! Lets get some serious knitting done so I can clear out my yarn stash and buy some more! Do I have a problem?

Simba doesn't think so.

Easter Eggs Belong in Macaroni Salad

Happy Easter Everyone!

I colored eggs the other day to help JB and I get into the Easter spirit. JB apparently is not a fan of egg coloring. He participated long enough to remove the eggs from the stove while I was cleaning the bathroom and then wanted nothing to do with the whole process after that. I bought these "egg" cups from Wal-Mart for the dye, they turned out the be the most genius Easter invention ever. They were $.99 and came with 5 different colored plastic egg shaped containers with lines for water and vinegar. You just filled the cup with water up to the water line, then add vinegar until the liquid reaches the vinegar line. Drop in the dye tablet, dunk the egg and TaaaDaa! Colored eggs, no mess and you can throw out the plastic cups when your done. Clean up was so easy!

This morning while I was prepping for Easter Dinner, these poor eggs met their match. My pretty little eggs were sacrificed to the macaroni salad. At least they went to good use. Yum! JB loves macaroni salad although he will no doubt have something to say about the dyed egg pieces in it.

  All the eggs in a row, right before they became part of the macaroni salad! The green one and the yellow one on the end became deviled eggs.

Since JB and I have had to work all weekend and I've got class tomorrow morning, we couldn't make it out to see family for Easter dinner this year. I decided to make a nice dinner here anyways. I'm making a roasted chicken (its in the oven now! Smells delicious!) with lots of seasonings, covered in a little beer and some apple juice and stuffed with russet potatoes, celery, garlic, and carrots. This is the first whole chicken I have ever made (or even seen in person for that matter). I'm very proud of myself. Also on the menu we have home made mashed potatoes from scratch, green bean casserole, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, corn, a tossed salad with home made Italian dressing, baked dinner rolls, strawberry short cake with "made-from-scratch" whipped cream and a caramel apple pie (I definitely bought that pie). Top that all off with the mimosas we've been sipping all morning and we've got an Easter Celebration for sure! We will certainly have left overs for a few days. Cooking it all was fun though!

While the chicken is cooking and I'm in between baking dishes, I think I will start spinning that gorgeous merino I just bought. I'm still waiting on a second bag of fiber, hopefully it will come soon.
I bought this beautiful roving from Woolamina's Etsy store! I will certainly be shopping there again soon!

 

Aren't the colors just to "dye" for (lol)!? Its just beautiful and I'm so excited to start working with it! I have no idea what to make with the yarn once I spin it. Any suggestions?

It's the last week of classes and then straight into finals. I've been running around like crazy trying to get everything done so forgive me if I am lazy with my posts. Easter was a nice little break from all that work but now I've got to get right back to it! 

Happy Easter and Good Luck on finals to all my collegiate readers.

Easter Sunday Prep & Earth Day!

Its been a long winter and from the looks of it, it doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon. In mid April, just two days away from Easter, its snowing here. And not just a little snow, its full on, get-the-snow-tires-out, put-the-winter-coat-on, don't-forget-your-boots snowing.

This picture does no justice to the amount of snow coming down. Mother nature is punishing us on Earth Day for being bad environmentalists. We are going to be burried in snow by Easter Sunday whether we like it or not. The snow hasn't stopped the summer knitting bug. Earlier this week I was compelled to visit my LYS and found some of the cutest yarns of the season!

Ella Rae's Phoenix yarns caught my eye right away. Its a 100% cotton yarn that was sitting, nestled away amongst all the other spring time yarns. The second I laid eyes on it I knew it would be mine and it would make a fabulous shawl. I loved the Light Yellow, it was so springtimey pretty that I knew I'd have to find a light and lacey shawl pattern.

Snookie really likes this yarn, Simba does too but he wouldn't sit still long enough to have his picture taken. I've had to wrestle it out of their paws a few times...they seem to always know which yarns I'm using and they pick that stuff to drag around the house!

I searched my queue and found a pattern that I saved months ago. I've wanted to knit this one for a while but just couldn't find the right yarn. Ella Rae is the perfect match! The Vernal Equinox Shawl Surprise is a half circle lace shawl. Its knit in "Clues", such a cute idea and makes the knitting easy to break up into different nights.

There are a few variations on this shawl. The bottom edge can be rounded, scallopedish like in this pictures or it can be batwinged every other inch. I'm thinking I'll probably just round it off that way the shawl won't be so dramatic in design that I can't wear it with certain things.

I've been so busy with school and work and volunteering for different things that I haven't had much time to knit. I lost a good friend in February. He was fighting in Afghanistan with the Marines. Its been a rough year with a lot going on, and I just haven't been able to knit as much as I would like. I feel a little out of practice, and I can see it a little in my knitting right now. No worries though, it won't take long to bring it back.

I'm just about done with Clue 2. Knitters be warned, make sure you keep an eye on your stitch count. Its very easy to lose track and miss a YO or a PSSO.  I don't know what made me think it was a good idea to knit with out stitch markers. I regret it already.

Don't forget, today is Earth Day! Do something earth friendly! I planted seeds for a vegetable garden, what are you going to do for the earth today?



its...FINISHED

     I finished the Ellis baby dress on Thursday but have been sooooo busy since then that I haven't had time to post. The dress is beautiful and now I'm onto the rest of my Christmas gifts. I'm so relieved this dress is done, it seemed like the never ending project. But 3 balls of yarn and LOTS of time later this is the result.

My lovely Build-A-Bear rabbit is modeling the dress. Its really cool and I am very happy with it. I think Shane and his daughter will be too. My mom however, has probably had it with my procrastination. I was supposed to have this dress done FOREVER ago. Uuhg...I've just been so busy!

     I started my Christmas shopping today! After I got out of work I ran around like a crazy person buying little things, checking prices, comparing quality and crossing people off my list. I feel pretty good about today. I stuck to my budget and got some good deals. I can't disclose what exactly I bought yet for fear of prying eyes (yeah you J.B.) but trust me...its good stuff.

     My BFF is visiting from NYC and she went shopping with me. We found a giant lion face hat thing. Nikki took the liberty of modeling. For some reason Bon-Ton felt this was a Christmas item that belonged in the "home decor" section. Other than being a hat.....I think I'm missing the "Christmassy" attributes of this thing. Its cute tho.
     I have SOOOO much to do. School has been out (for Thanksgiving Break) for a week and I have  done nothing but work! My house is a flipping disaster area, I haven't done a smidgen of decorating and my poor boyfriend hasn't had a home cooked dinner since (since Thanksgiving actually...but were talking about me making dinner here!) god knows when. I am pretty certain my cats are feeling neglected as well.

This is Simba's neglected face.

So, with what little time I do have left tonight, I'm going to start cleaning this pig sty of a house.

-Merry Christmas!

P.S. OOOOH! We had snow today! I woke up this morning and there was snow on the ground!

Learn To Crochet....or at least try.

     I'm so glad it's Friday...not only is it Friday but its the last day of classes before Thanksgiving break! And! It's my 2 year anniversary with J.B. I want to see the new Harry Potter movie. Woohoo!

Anyways, since I ran out of yarn for my Ellis dress I made a trip to the store yesterday (only to find, YET AGAIN, they did not have the same kind of yarn I had been using) and picked up some needles. Here is the loot. 1 set of 16" size 7 (4.5mm) needles and 1 set of 24" size 7 needles. Both by Clover. I like clover, they meld reasonable price and quality well. They aren't my favorite needles I've ever held, but they are good for the prices.

And since I worked some ungodly hours yesterday evening, I had a friend of mine (Kendra) come visit me. She is a life long crocheter and I can't work with a hook to save my life. So we decided to trade crafts. I taught her how to knit (she did quite well if I do say so) and she TRIED to teach me how to crochet. Let me tell you that knitting is MUCH, MUCH easier.  After several attempts at random things I finally came up with this....

As far as I know...the pattern she had me doing was single crochet (SC) 5 loops, then skip 2 loops then SC 5 more loops then in the 6th loop sc 3 times (in the same loop!) and well...repeat. I think it looks like a crown. Now that I have some grasp on the craft, I might just try to expand upon it. Over the break (in between working like a mad women and studying for finals of course) I might even attempt to crochet a real thing. Something with a name, and maybe (if i'm feeling very adventurous) a use! Like a doiley or a dishcloth! Kendra was able to complete a knitted dish cloth yesterday (even if there were a couple shakey rows lol) and she was very proud! I was impressed with her. She was working on the most adorable crocheted baby blanket ever and I could kick myself, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

     So tonight (hopefully after Harry Potter!) I will be making another trip to another craft store in search of more yarn. I vow to have this Ellis dress completed by Sunday. I also need to get a good start on my christmas gift projects and finish that toe up sock (I have one already done).

Simba and Snookie hugging! I <3 my sweet little babies!

P...For Problem

The Ellis dress was coming along nicely EXCEPT for the problem. Can you spot the problem? I CAN! It's that sad, sorry little excuse for a ball of yarn over there on the left. Thats all I have left. This means a 3rd trip to the store. Wow...this is the never ending dress.