New adventures

So begins the new adventures.

I am thinking about starting a new blog. One that refocuses my energy into something that works a bit more for me. I want something that can encompass my career path as a crafter, my dreams as an eventual mother and loving wife, and my crazy quirkiness of being a bit of a geek. I will still post here, just not as often as I had hoped. I hate that I never feel the motivation to actually make a post. I feel that every post needs to be crafty, and that every post needs to have a tutorial, or something of that nature. I don't feel the love anymore of this blog.

I am not giving up blogging, just giving up on this one for a bit. It'll still be here for reference, and it'll still have some new posts every once in a while, but keep your eyes open for a link to my new blog.

Thanks for all the fun!

A New Year with New Goals

I haven't been the best blogger this year, and I want to change that. Even if I don't have many readers, I want to chronicle my creative and crafty ideas, projects, and completions.

I figure if I put my goals up here, then I will be able to better account for my actions towards my goals. Now, I have plenty of non-tangible goals: removing neagtive energy from my life, going after more healthy habits and lifestyle choices, etc., but I do have plenty of tangible goals too.

Last week, I miscalculated my bank account, and didnt have enough on my card to get gas. the employee had already pumped the gas, and I was starting to panic! The lady in front of my in line offered to pay for my gas as well as her own. She asked only that I pay it forward when I could.


Now, paying it forward is usually thought of as a monetary thing, you are given a bit of money or something is bought for you, so you buy a cup of coffee for the next guy in the diner, or you leave $5.00 with the teller at the grocery store to pay for part of the next guys groceries...but what about paying it forward with your skills, rather than your wallet.

I have set for myself a goal, or a few goals, rather. a few goals.

In light of the loss of a friend from our local knitting group, I have started to look into donating to charities that accept handmade creations, hats, scarves, blankets, etc.

I want to make at least 1 hat every week until December 1, 2011 when I will donate them all to the regional FAN (Family Access Network) office to be distributed to students who need warm clothes from our local school districts.

I also want to make at least 1 baby blanket each month to donate to Grandma's House of Bend, a non-profit organization in my local area that works to shelter and educate teen parents and their children who have been made homeless by their situation.

I am also planning on getting a clientele set up for my baby shower boutique business, and lining up vendor accounts at local baby stores.

On the blog front, I want to make at least 1 post per week, even if it is just a picture, and a hello.

I am in my final year of school before I graduate, so I want to make certain that I stay on track. Last term I made Dean's List, which is an honor awarded only to those who take more than 12 credits per term and maintain a steady 3.60 or above GPA. I want to keep that up.

Finishes, and Baby Showers

I have an endless list of holiday knitting, but woke up this morning from a dream about knitting designs...

But that is for a later moment. For now, I need to update you on some finishes, some gifts I have been waiting to blog about until they were given, and some decent weather to photograph some of my finishes from last month.

So, here is all is!

We will start off with Fynn and his baby shower gifts. My friend Taylor is expecting her first child. She and her fiancee are a very non-orthodox couple. They requested that nothing be "typical baby". The nursery theme is pirates, and the baby shower was themed Jungle.

That got me thinking, every new parent I know has a blanket that they really like to put on their baby's crib or to wrap them up in when they are running about town with their little one. I wanted the blanket I made for them to be a representation of their personality as much as a gift for the baby.

Here you have it:

Yep, that is right, those are pirate skulls on a hand embroidered baby quilt...I wish I could have gotten better pics of that, but the pic I got of the skulls up close were a bit too blurry to save.

I also gave with this set, a handmade card (should have gotten pics of that too), as well as a granny square blanket crocheted out of Joann Sensations Rainbow Boucle in Blue (self striping) and a matching hat, as well as a couple of outfits, and I will be taking washcloths and burp cloths to her in the hospital when she has baby Fynn, I didn't finish making them before the shower.

Next, I have been trying to get some photos of some of the finishes I have done, the main one being the climbing shells scarf that I did over a month ago.

With school and the weather being so annoying, I couldn't get anything decent.

This was my first attempt:

Not so great, right?

How about this one?

I decided to try something, I decided to go into the bathroom, turned on the light, used the mirror to see my digital screen and used the auto setting on my camera... That way, your camera isnt fighting the light facing you, it is only using that light.

 Next thing I wanted to show... I have seen those adorable ear warmer headbands that have fun buttons or cute flowers offset to one side or the other, they wrap under your hair and cover your ears for those cold mornings, and frosty nights walking the dogs or heading to school.


Here is my rendition:  The Head-hugger!

Really simple garter stitch with big needles and super bulky yarn... I will post a recipe for this design in my next separate post...


You will also be able to find it on Ravlery. It is SUPER warm, and I got so many compliments today at school.

I am about half way through my diagonal garter baby blanket with eyelet border, but didn't get photos yet, and I think I might do another version of the Back-2-School with Flair scarf in Lion Brand Homespun, also, I may have found an adequate yarn replacement for the suggested, but discontinued Moda Dea Dream I used on the original for this pattern...

Progress and plans...and some stuff about studying

This week, I have had too much to do and not enough time or energy to do it in.

Thursday, I started showing signs of a headcold.

Not to be put out of commission, I slammed a vitamin C pumped smoothie and went about my day...I worked through the discomfort and feelings of fire in my sinuses, and now I am without voice, or energy. I really should have taken the day off and slept...

Yesterday, I had a baby shower...the day before, I realized that the fabric I bought for the shower gift was still un-sewn and in it's original bag...whoops.

So I sewed like crazy through the baby blanket, fought with my sewing machine, and finally finished. I had a ton of extra fabric from the blanket, so I found my stash of terrycloth and made 4 matching and 2 coordinating burp cloths.

I would post pics, but my memory card reader has disappeared...

While I was in the next town over, I got an invite to another baby shower...on the same day as the one I am planning. So I have moved my friends shower 1 day back, and will be in the next few weeks, crafting for 2 showers at the same time.Starting with the Granny Square Blankie for Gavin

All of these crafty activities have forced me to put my own projects on hold, as least for a few weeks. I have been commissioned to make up a scarf and 2 hats for my neighbors grown son and his fiance. Those should be easy, once I get the motivation...

And in all of this, I have to remember that I am a college student and must keep up on my homework...speaking of, have you ever noticed that college professors get very jaded after a while...I was assigned an entrepreneur to research and write a report on, and it turns out she only did 1 thing worth reporting on...and I had to BS my way from a 2 paragraph paper to a 2 page paper...

I have put my Cropped Cardigan on hold for the moment being, simply because there is not enough time in the day to do it all...

Update on old Beau

Beau runs and drives...but is missing 1 break at this time. Figured out that the grease seal in the rear axle blew out, spewing grease into the brake drum causing it to seize up. Sprayed some engine cleaner in, scrubbed out the grease (after we broke the rust seal on the drum to tear it apart) and pin-pointed the problem. Now we just need to find a mechanic that is able to fit us into the schedule to press the axle and install the new seal, then we will be good as new. While we are out and about doing that, we will be replacing the brakes all around, and working on the paint. first to sand him down, then to paint him up...

We're thinking Ford racing blue and super shiny chrome.

Long time WIP...and money suck.'

This is a photo of my newest project.

His name is Beau, and he is a 1970 F100 Ranger XLT, 360 V8 with a manual 4 speed.

Hubby and I picked it up for $200.00 with some mechanical work that needed to be done.

When our Buick finally went, rest her...treads...(she is now retired)...we gave ourselves a $600 budget for a replacement vehicle.

Mom bought us the truck because she and my dad took over the resto process of my old '59 Ford Flatbed without including me, and felt bad about it.

So that gives us $600.00 to fix him up and get him into running shape.

Now, the work that has to be done:
Back end has locked up, might be brakes, might be rear differential.... if it is the brakes, the cost is $100-150 and 3-4 hours to rebuild the system...if it is the rear differential it would be $250 and a weekend....family has the rear end from a '72 that they found, I can get it for $100.00 and a weekend of work.

Bumper, Hood, and grille replacement...all part have been located, estimated at $150.00 for all three. Then just the time to fix it.

After that, we need to replace all the gaskets and seals in the engine, replace weather stripping in the back window and the aftermarket sunroof (have you ever had a pickup with a sunroof?).

Then the painting fun begins. He has a bit of surface rust, need to sand it down, primer it and epoxy the paint to seal it until we can take it to a pro paint shop NEXT summer.

We are doing all the metal bits we can in the engine compartment in high heat Ford Racing Blue engine paint, all the tubing, pipes, or hoses will be in shiney braided steel cord, and the body will be in a deep ford racing blue as well. We are restoring the chrome, and getting a picture of an English Setter, or a Brittany Spaniel and a couple of bird hunting shotguns crossed painted on the tailgate with the name Beau.

My former neighbor had a catahoula cur named Beau boy Blue that was as loyal and faithful to his owners and friends as a blind man is to his stick. He was the best huntin' dog I ever worked with, and he was finally put down a few years ago when he couldn't see well enough to find his way in the house any more. He was 15. He had gotten his name because of his left eye, which was blue on top and brown on the bottom.

Being an older model truck, there are no computers to deal with, no conserving space in the engine compartment, so to do an oil change you have to take off the tire...he isn't going to tell you any lies, and he will be with you as long as you want him around so long as you take care of him. Strong, loyal, faithful, and honest, just like of boy Beau...

Can you tell I am both a car/truck person, and a dog person?

WIP Wednesday

So here it is, May 26, 2010...that leaves me with just under 7 months to get everything done for Christmas...I know...early to start thinking about that...but I don't want to be the knitting zombie I was last year...I won't face the formidable IT from the Yarn Harlot's life...

And, besides, I have a large family, and not enough needles to have several patterns on the needles at once, like most folks do. Nope, it will be just 1 or 2 projects at a time.

But I spent an insomniac's morning going through my family lists, figuring out who would want what kind of gifts. I have decided, looking from ravlery, that all of the adult women (with the exception of my mother) will be getting large-ish felted tote bags for their various goodies. My mom won't carry a purse or tote bag if her life depended on it, so she will be getting something different...not yet sure what... The adult guys will all be getting bulky wool slippers, as most of them have hard-wood floors in their homes. I will be lining the slippers with leather soles to make them slip resistant...

All of the young adult women (cousin, sister, and niece brackets of family tree) will be getting ear-warmer headbands, and fingerless gloves. All of the young adult men (cousin, nephew brackets) will be getting beanie caps and candy, they are so hard to craft for. For the little ones, (10 or younger) they will each be getting hats and fingerless cable gloves. The 2 littlest ones (under 4) will be getting sock monkeys.

I don't have pics yet, because I don't have yarn yet...but the projects can be found on my ravlery...

As for right now, on my needles as we speak......................I have Wisp in baby blue mohair/acrylic for my birthday, I am hoping to have it finished by Saturday.