Not at All Realted to Crafting  

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 I'm sorry, but this entry has absolutely nothing to do with crafting. Instead, it is a recap of an awesome dream last night. It was such a cool story, I thought I had to write it down. Unfortunately, I have no where else to "publish" this. I'm not even sure it warrants "publishing," but whatever - it's my blog. Read if you want, if not - keep on keepin' on....


The dream begins joining a story already in progress: It's around the 19th Century, probably in some part of Paris - somewhere dreary with winding, narrow cobblestone streets and dark corners, perfect for vampire mischievousness.... More on that later on.

In this dream, I am playing the role of a random woman that Lestat has chosen to keep captive for whatever reason. No one has fed from me [yet] and he has no intention of killing me [yet]. I guess you could say I was more like the hired mistress of the house, though there certainly was no payment and I was NOT free to leave upon my choosing. I cannot vividly remember Lestat as I do most of the other details, though I do believe he is in fact Tom Cruise as he was in the movie. In my dream, Lestat lived in an extravagantly decorated, fairly large house, much like the one from the movie - not the Colonial one in Louisiana, but the one before that in where he, Louis, and their "child" Claudia live. In this story there is no Claudia. Perhaps that is why I am in the dream - I replace Claudia's role as the extra torment for Louis. Ah, Louis. Louis is as he was in the movie, more or less, except for one major detail: instead of Brad Pitt, my Louis is played by none other than Alexander Skarsgard! I believe he is actually portraying Eric Northman, too, though I cannot be certain. I don't even remember if he is actually called Louis or Eric, but for the sake of this recap, let's continue to call him Louis.

Louis seems as he was in the movie: tormented about his new role in life - vampire. He cannot bring himself to drink from humans, as though he is loyal to Lestat, he hates him. Lestat is over-indulgent and has no value on human life, and Louis resents him for throwing him into this lifestyle. In my dream, we are already situated as a household: Lestat and his victims, and Louis and.... me. Louis loves me, but I am angry at the vampires and hesitate to explore my feelings for him. I am more of a companion for Louis, and a play-thing for Lestat, though as I said - neither have yet to drink from, though Lestat certainly threatens to often.

I remember sitting and having a conversation with Louis - He is remorseful and sad, and because of this I feel sorry for him... and maybe a little more than that. Louis softly asks me to try and forgive him, and maybe one day I could bring myself to love him. That seems to be all he wants in life - not to be feared as vampire, but loved as a man.

Throughout the dream, there are little events. For instance, Lestat bringing humans in and toying with them before he drains them: the humans acting as prey, running around the giant house trying to flee and hide from Lestat, their predator. When the hunt was on, I found I would have to run and hide too, else Lestat in his blood-lust might decide just to snack on me. Eventually, Lestat turns his attentions to me permanently - probably because Louis refuses to become just like him, and seems more affectionate to me rather than him. And so, Louis finds he must wage a personal uprising against Lestat, but to do that he needs more strength: whatever he is feeding off of is not human, and thus it makes him weaker than the already stronger Lestat.

Louis and I dash off in to town under, running through the dark, twisted corners to find some poor soul for Louis to feed from. The only candidate we find is a younger girl, dressed to the nines. He convinces her to come with him into a dark little stairwell where he proceeds to feed from her. I keep watch, for several people, albeit men with a different kind of deviant nature, have noticed our strange behaviour. I turn around to make sure Louis does not drain the girl to death. Then we make a dash back to the mansion, only to find the streets eerily empty. The few people we do see appear to be more zombie than human: they are pale and frozen in motion with nothing but the blood flowing down their upright bodies. We know something strange is happening....

This is where the plot gets a little hazy, I'm afraid. Instead of witnessing the dream through my own eyes, I am viewing as though watching a movie. Louis comes home to find Lestat cradling a corpse on the couch. His back is turned as Louis finds me - and this is where it gets ridiculous - as a lamp. Yes, I know - I said it was ridiculous! It turns out that Lestat has waged his own war on the entire town, because he was afraid they were catching on to them. He says they must flee, but Louis refuses to go. He is at my side as we are both crying - I profess my love for him and ask him to turn me so we might be together forever. Louis hesitates but then bares my neck and his fangs. However, Lestat stops him and tells Louis that I must die along with the other citizens - we are all to be burned so that it looks like a horrific accident. As Louis screams in protest, and we both sit there crying - I wake up.

Remember Me?!  

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I'm back!

After being absent for a very, very long time, I present my latest finished project:



It's a little wooden cupboard that I've re-finished as a house-warming present for my mum! Yes, it's Cinderella's Castle from Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom - she's slightly Disney obsessed ;P I have three of these cupboards and I plan on doing each park icon. The next one shall be the most important - Disney's Animal Kingdom, where both my mum and I work! [Notice what's on the television behind the cupboard? hehe FIFA FEVER!!! COME ON, ENGLAND!] *Ahem*

It's taken me a LOT longer than I originally planned, as I wanted to have it ready as a surprise for mum when she moved into her new place at the beginning of June. However, I severely under-estimated how difficult it would be! It took three coats of primer alone! Why? Because THIS is what it looked like when I got my hands on it:



Drawing it up proved to be a MAJOR pain in the butt. I used both a real photo of the castle and a children's colouring book image for line reference.... Unforunately, the children's colouring book image was slightly off from what the castle actually looked like, so I discovered about half-way through drawing the lines [in pencil, thankfully] that everything was just slightly off. Needles to say I killed my pencil's eraser. [I discovered it AGAIN when I actually started painting the lines.... grumble....]

So, I primed it, drew it, painted on the black lines, painted in the blue, painted in the grey - both of which took several layers, then painted in the detail work [bricks, flags, etc], then went back over with black to clean the lines up. I had such a hard time painting a straight line I almost threw this project away. The new medication I am on make my hands shake really, really bad, so there was a LOT of cursing and clean up to do. But now, the behemoth is finally finished!

Overall, I'm somewhat happy with it. There are a lot of fudge-ups so of course that's all I see when I look at it - that, and my shaky, shaky lines. BUT, Mum loves it so that's all that matters... as long as she's telling me the truth, haha.

And now, on to the rest of the photos:

Warcraft Swap: Finished!  

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      I finished and sent off all the things I made for my partner in our World of Warcraft Swap. I sent off late Wednesday afternoon and MUCH to our surprise it arrived in Sweden on Monday morning! Holy crow, that's fast!

      After seeing some of the other packages in the swap gallery, I was starting to feel VERY anxious that I didn't make enough stuff, but my partner insist her fiancee is happy with everything so hopefully she's not just being nice ;)

      Anyway, now that she's received I can post what I made here!

      First, I painted one of those cardboard book boxes. I tried my best to make it look like a rugged leather book - something that you might actually find in the halls of Orgrimmar. The idea was to make it Thrall's [the leader of the Orcs in Orgrimmar] little secret box.







     In fan lore, it's believed he is "very close" with a Human leader named Jaina Proudmoore, so I stuffed the book with goodies from Disney and made it seem like they were sent to Thrall from Jaina on her trip to Walt Disney World.



     I even made her send him a postcard.


[my cursive is TERRIBLE]

     Everything I made and sent I attached a label to, like the one you would see on any item in the game, so for Thrall's Journal, I attached this:


     Next I made a leather cuff. First, I painted the Horde logo on it [which, despite it's deceiptfully simple appearance, is a real BITCH to duplicate free-hand]. I worked really hard on shading it and everything to make it look more three-dimensional, but I couldn't really capture that in a photo. I also added black swirly bits all over and red splatters. Add some grommets, some leather to lace it up, and wah-la! Bracers of Pwnage!



     Finally, a t-shirt. I painted the yellow exclamation mark on the front of it. It's what you'd find in the game above a source that would give you a quest. On the back, right under the collar I painted another Horde logo. The tag includes a warning that whilst wearing the shirt, you are entitled to give orders, however those that complete said orders may expect a reward!



I threw in Minnie Mouse from Animal Kingdom for Ann, since everything I made was for her fiance, and of course everything was wrapped up in Disney bags lol.



     I really do hope they honestly liked everything and don't feel like they got jipped! I mean, I was sick the entire time and hopping in and out of various health places so the fact that I got anything done really astounds me, but that's no excuse. I can't help feeling crappy...

The "Bob Bag" in all it's... erm.... Glory?  

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Ok, ok, ok. I'll stop procrastinating and blog a little about the bag and show you how it turned out. But, because I'm a.) lazy, b.) troubled, c.) busy, and most of all d.) anxious to start gorging on the Girl Scout Cookies in the kitchen, I'm just pasting in what I wrote about it on Craftster.org. I added a little on the end... 'cause... well I was just trying to be cool and polite, so I didn't include much ranting. Fortunately, this is MY blog, so I can rant here! MWUAHAHAHAHA!

"A good friend of mine, and follower of the Church of the SubGenius practically BEGGED me once he found out I had a pattern for their icon, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. He didn't care what, he just wanted something! I wasn't prepared to devote myself to making an entire sweater, so I just made a bag... a huge, oddly oblong bag.

The pattern came from the Domiknitrix book, which you can find more about here: http://www.domiknitrix.com


It was the first time I had tried knitting an image and the first time using multiple strands of different colour yarn... and it just might be the last. hahaha. In all seriousness, I'm glad I did it. I proved to myself I COULD, and know I have that knowledge under my belt. 

 

Since it was the first time I was attempting translating and knitting an image, I wasn't even going to try and adjust the size... The original size being intended for a man's sweater. So, it was HUGE, took [what seemed like] forever, and made for a VERY odd shape. In hind-sight [which of course is always crystal clear], I should have just added more stitches to the sides and just embraced a MASSIVE, but proportionate bag.


The other thing I will never, EVER do again is use a sewing machine to sew something that took me weeks to knit. I just can't stand the pressure! My machine [Betsy] decided to have a hissy fit THE.SECOND. I started sewing the lining to my knit piece. I froze. I cried. I CONQUERED!

(back, after sewing up side seams)


BUT! I finally finished it! It's not perfect, but all things considered.... *pats self on back*
(I swear the top edging isn't as wonky as it looks)


(I added some pocket-age)


There you have it! Whatcha' think then??"


Some things I didn't mention in my Craftster post:
  • I over-ironed the son-of-a-bitch. Bob, that is. I was trying to iron out the edges because they were of course curling under, as knitting does, but I over did it up by Bob's face and it came out all wonky. I kind of fixed it by sort of rubbing it back into shape with hot water.
  • The comments I got on the post were quite sweet - things like, "Wow you're brave;" "Kudos, I would never try anything like that;" [both of which in knitting terms I think mean "what in the hell made you think you could do THAT?!"] "looks great;" and my personal favourite "Epic." Haha.
  • And most important, let me reiterate : NEVER.AGAIN. Seriously, if anyone ever hears me say I'm going to start knitting something that has to be sewn, PUNCH ME. PUNCH ME HARD. I will never ever EVER again try to sew something with a sewing maching that took me DAYS to knit. It's nerve wracking. I almost died. Ok, so I'm exaggerating, but BETSY [my sewing machine] almost died!

I mailed off this bad boy on.... erm.... uh.... Tuesday? Crap, I can't remember. Anyway, he should have it by now. No word yet though. I swear to God.... if the mail loses it.... BEWARE.

Lucky? Definitely Not. Cursed? Seems So.  

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Alright well, time for an update!

The relief that came from the emergency room visit and associated meds did NOT last. I went to my regular doctor, came out with a new load of meds, and still no real relief. He gave me a referral to a specialist, and I'm anxious to call and make an appointment. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't. Most of the time it's just an annoying ache. Other times it makes me want to cut my own head off. By the way, the day I went to visit my doctor, I developed a cold! So for about a week I was snotty, sneezy, heavily medicated, and just generally feeling shitty.

My doctor ordered me to get blood work. Did I mention that not only am I afraid of needles, but DEATHLY afraid of blood? It's a big deal, but, I am resolved to feel better, so I went. I had to fast from 9pm the night before until the time of my blood test, which I was aiming to be at about 10am. My body, as usual, had other plans. As it turns out, taking all of my meds and the usual ibuprofen and not having anything to eat for almost 12 hours does not work well, so at 7am-ish I woke up.... and threw up. I'm sure you all know what it feels like to throw up when you don't actually have any food in your stomach, so I won't go in to any more detail. So I threw on some clothes and off we went to the hospital for my blood test. You can imagine how awful I felt, from not only being physically ill, but also FREAKING OUT about the blood test. I was in and out much quicker than anticipated, but that doesn't mean it went well. It didn't go terribly, but I did get real ill and violently shaky. However, staying conscious is an achievement in my book, so all things considered it went ok. The nurse was amazing, also - she even got the needle in in ONE GO! Normally it takes them three of four tries! Unfortunately, afterward I was still extremely nauseas. I couldn't fathom the idea of eating anything and not even toast could help me through. I ended up finally falling asleep on the couch, and when I woke up a couple hours later I felt much better.

Needless to say, it has been a REALLY ROUGH couple of weeks. That said, somehow I did manage to get the Bob bag FINISHED and sent off AND finished two items for the Warcraft swap! I'll post about the Bob bag later.... I PROMISE this will get back to being a craft blog as soon as I get back to feeling like a crafty human being and less like a trampled pin cushion :(

A Non-Crafting Related Development  

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Since I posted yesterday about what was presumed to be TMJ, there has been a development. And no, this post has nothing to do with crafting.

Right after I finished writing my last entry, I had some cereal, and ended up in agony. My husband has been trying to get me to go to the hospital for a while now, and since I was in so much pain yesterday, I gave in. He left work early to come home and pick me up. We got to the Celebration Hospital around 3:30pm, and at 6:00pm I was finally seen. The Doctor gave me a little look and decided it was in fact TMJ. He ordered an injection of steroids, a course of steroid pills, pain relievers, and muscle relaxers. The shot idea had me panicing, and the doctor feeling around made my jaw feel INCREDIBLY painful, so I was being a big crying baby. Then the nurse came in, gave me the shot in my bum, and I was still a crying baby... because I'm deathly afraid of needles and I was feeling very very faint. Eventually I got myself together enough to walk out, ALMOST passed out on the way to the waiting room, and sat my sore butt down while my hubby sorted out the financials. My signature after shots is to gently slip out of consciousness whilst in the waiting room, but my jaw [and butt] were so painful, and I was so shaky, that I managed to avoid it.

On the way home we stopped by Target to fill all my prescriptions. By then my jaw was almost COMPLETELY painless! I cannot even describe what relief that was. I was literally getting to the point where I would look of photographs from earlier and I could not remember what it felt like NOT to be in pain all day everyday. Now, I'm just mad at myself for not listening to my husband and going to the hospital sooner.

I took the muscle relaxer before bed, as instructed, and I am very pleased to say that I slept the entire night through... for eleven hours!!! I cannot even remember the last time I slept through the night. I'm amazed. Doc said to take it easy today, so that's what I'll do! I'm not sure if I can knit, because in the past that did contribute to my jaw pain, but we'll see. It's a great excuse to cuddle up on the couch and watch Turner Class Movies all day! So far today I feel a little pressure, but relatively no pain, and I'm assuming that as I go through this steroid treatment, the pressure [caused by the inflammation] will go away. Gosh, I hope this lasts. Now I know what to do the SECOND it comes back next time.

*Insert Clever Title Here*  

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Epic news, people - I have finished knitting the giant monstrosity known as the Bob Bag! I am now knitting the strap, which is obviously a breeze.... but still VERY boring. *sigh* It's almost over!

However, I have been stricken with an illness that is keeping me from being terribly productive. I don't know what it is - At first I thought it was a cold, maybe allergies, and now I'm thinking it's just plain old T.M.J. I've been struggling with this for about two or three years now, on and off, but usually it's at it's worst this time of year. It's horrible. All day, every day. No sleep. Sooooo many pills. And I'm gaining weight like crazy because I can't take all these pills on empty stomach. Picture it: it's like five o'clock in the morning, I'm in agony, I need to take pills, so I grab something quick and carb-y [meaning fattening]. Ugh. It's insult to injury, really.

Anyway, despite all of this I did manage to bake my butt off yesterday. My husband and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. Instead, we celebrate our relationship on February 13th. He made me heart-shaped pink pancakes [raspberry and chocolate chip] for breakfast in bed, took me shopping, and then we went out for a really nice Indian dinner. It was great. I wanted to do something kinda special for him, so I spent all day in the kitchen. Don't let anyone tell you any different - the way to a man's heart IS through his stomach. Let's face it - besides expensive gadgets, they don't really care about anything else, haha.

I made white and pink white chocolate drizzled brownie biscotti, which is one of my favourite things to make these days. And for the first time ever, I made flan. BUTTERSCOTCH flan, which is my hubbies favourite sticky goodness. I had two little heart-shaped ramekins, for an added touch of cuteness. And finally - a heart shaped pizza! It was semi-homemade: I bought the dough from the grocery store and rolled it out into it's heart shape, then PILED on the cheese, hehe. Hubs brought home some wine, I put the flowers he gave me on the table, and it turned into quite a cute dinner!

Unfortunately for me, all the tension of baking [haha] really did a number on my jaw so I was in agony by the time I was eating. The wine helped, but the benadryl.... oh yeah. I was feelin' good! ...For like an hour. *sigh*

Picture Time:

Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza 


Butterscotch Flan












           White Chocolate Drizzled Brownie Biscotti

Busy Little Bee  

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     What does everyone think to the new layout? Pretty, huh? I had a tough time choosing between this one and this one. I think the pinup girl is REALLY cute, and REALLY "me" and would have been PERFECT whilst I was blogging about my Sailor Dress, but ultimately I thought the actual blog part was too hard to read and too boring. Who knows, maybe I'll change it one day, but for now I think the one I'm using is just too cute. Not boring, not busy, just cute!

     As for what I'm working on... yup, you've guessed it - The Bob Bag [still]! I know, I know, it's taking me forever and you're sick of hearing about it! Trust me, I'm sick of knitting it! haha. I've just been rather busy and/or distracted lately, and haven't really had a chance to sit and knit. I PROMISE I'll be done soon! I have to be, anyway!

     I've just signed up for a World of Warcraft themed Craft Swap on my favourite website of all time: Crafster.org! This will be my second craft swap there, my previous one being a huge Disney swap, where I made such things as this Maleficent backpack, Pirates of the Carribean t-shirts, and various other goodies found at my Myspace page album. I know - Myspace! It's so three years ago! lol I just can't be bothered to keep moving my photos around, honestly. Anyway - I got my partner [she lives in Sweden! *squeee!*], and I've already got it planned what I'm going to make! I can't tell you, of course, in case she e-stalks me and stumbles across my blog, so I'll have to be uber secretive and keep you all in suspense! The deadline for finishing and sending off is mid March, so it's not too long to wait. Exciting! I can't wait to see what she makes me! haha

     I also signed up to make a couple of items for a Celebrity Gift Basket that will be placed in their greenroom at the TwiCon in Las Vegas! I couldn't resist! There are going to be stars from Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and [wait for it...] TRUE BLOOD! *dies* Sam wearing something I made him!? *dies again* Plan is to paint a leather cuff and/or leather wallet.... Don't know what I'll paint on said leather items, but I thought that's what those kind of men might like. Can you see Peter Facinelli tweeting a picture of his new wallet - painted by yours truly?! No, I can't either - but a girl can dream!

     I love having a deadline. Sure, I freak out about it for a good long while, but I always get it done in time. Having a deadline keeps me from stalling [*ahem*Bob Bag*ahem*]. The guilt of not being productive usually weighs so heavily on me that I could never just waste away on the couch watching soaps. Not that I do anyway. Maybe I should say "...farming away in War Craft." Oh God, I am so horribly addicted!

     Besides stalling on my knitting, signing myself up into a couple different projects, creating a "musical listening experience" mix CD for my BFF, and spending hours fishing in War Craft to get a rare Sea Turtle mount [you heard me], I have also been working hard to get myself back on track! As in, a life path, or whatever you want to call it. I have gathered the information on what I need to apply for Financial Aid so that I can get back in to school and finish getting my Bachelor's in Fine Art [I'm three years into it]. For the longest time I have felt resentful at the art school establishment and was seriously rethinking my major, but a week or so ago it all just CLICKED.


      Does anyone remember me talking about opening up another etsy store? *crickets* No? Well, I did! I decided to open an etsy store to sell prints of my photography. Said etsy can be found here, or at linkage to the right. I'm not trying make millions here, but I thought why not? It doesn't cost anything to open a shop, and just pennies to list, so I'm giving it a go! I am currently entertaining the idea of taking my prints to craft fairs. Not only to sell prints, but to start advertising myself as a pet portrait artist, which was what I wanted to do with myself whilst I was still in school. It was only after my school-appointed photography mentor reviewed my portfolio and told me there was no future in pet photography [which is crap, because there is a now famous pet photographer that most famously takes photos of Perez Hilton's pup - which has inspired me] that I tossed the idea. Along with the idea of art school in general... which brings us back full circle! My thinking is that a degree in anything is a good thing, and since I'm a.) already over half way through my photography degree b.) more knowledgeable in the photography field that anything else and c.) actually kind of missing taking photographs, I'm going back in! I'm hoping I could at least get a job at an Art Gallery after I'm out.... and, if I was to REALLY think big, wild, CRAZY dreams - open my OWN gallery! Day dreaming is what I'm best at, and ideas I always have in abundance. It's motivation, knowledge, and means that I always seem to be lacking....

... So yeah, there's that.

Social Networking: A Reflection  

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      Since my last post, I have parted ways with Facebook. Kinda. I use to spend waaaaay too much time on there, so I cut myself off. I only log on once a day, if that, for a quick check of certain peoples' updates. I don't comment, I don't do status updates, I don't "share" things anymore. I've also deleted the Facebook app from my Blackberry, and it's VERY liberating! If I do feel the absolute desire to send a little quip into the world wide web, I use Twitter, which limits me to like 140 characters. And, no one reads or responds to it, so it works well.

     Apparently my husband, who was the first to suggest I leave Facebook, has notice quite a difference in me. I do feel less obsessive compulsive about it. I also feel less regected, as stupid as that sounds. I mean, I had like 175 friends on my Facebook, but whenever I posted something I go little to no response. Like Drew Barrymore's character in He's Just Not That Into You: "Now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It's exhausting." I am a very much introverted person, but when it came to Facebook and all forms of social networking, I am an extrovert. I have no idea why. I suppose it's the same reason I write this blog. I know no one cares, but I feel like I have something to say, and being that I am so painfully shy, I never get an opportunity to say these things out loud.

      I have been abandoning popular websites for a while now. Around 2003-ish, my friends and I were posting all over LiveJournal. Same story there: Me writing way too much and WAY too much drama developing. So, I jumped ship for Myspace at a friends recommendation. Rinse and Repeat. Myspace was getting out of control! So, I retreated to Facebook [around 2006/2007], which at the time was for college students only, so it was nice to go somewhere simple and quiet to connect with old school mates. Then they went public, and I thought it was SO awesome that all my current friends were leaving Myspace and joining me in my new world. And now, with all that's going on in the world, I can no longer stand the negativity that overwhelms my "Friends List." Sometimes Twitter makes me feeling like I'm shouting in to a HUGE mob of people yelling a lot louder than me, but I think that might be better for me, to keep me from getting obsessed. Really, I just use Twitter to follow Dita Von Teese, Michael Sheen, and Peter Facinelli. I think it's fascinating! I mean come on, Dita tweeting a photo of her ironing in her Paris apartment, which just happens to have a french door balcony looking out onto the Eiffel Tower?!

       SO! Instead of me smearing my personal business all over the internet [with the exception of this blog post], my husband treated me by taking me to Books a Million and pick out a pretty journal! I got this cute little red one with the old British Propaganda slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On" on it. We thought it was appropriate as well as being perfectly "me." I also got a FABULOUS bookmark to keep my place in it. Why is it fabulous, you ask? Because it has a picture of a zombie, a pile of yarn, and says "Zombies are crap at knitting." *pause for laughter* It makes me smile every time I open my journal. That right there is a step in the right direction. Any time I need to talk about something that doesn't belong anywhere public, it's going in this journal. I feel better already!


     Ultimately, all this has boiled down to me making an effort to kick myself in to gear. I mentioned in my last entry that I was doing a lot of thinking about the future. We recently went to Michael's and stocked up on a few supplies: canvases for my upcoming personal project [which my husband is actually rather excited about], and some new mediums to try for my etsy store. And yes, I am STILLLLLL working on that damn knitted bag, but LOOK! I've finally finished the face! It should go a lot lot LOT quicker now. I'm a little scared that I mucked up the dimensions, but... well.... meh!


And now, for your viewing pleasure, a couple snapshots from the spontaneous and goofy photoshoot that started whilst shopping in Michaels:

If Only Knitting Burnt Calories  

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This Bob Bag sure is going slooowwwwww! I've just started on his mouth, and all I have to say is this: I will never EVER work with polyester yarn again! I got it because it was not only the cheapest, but also the sturdiest yarn to use for a big project that's not going to be worn but suffer a fair amount of physical abuse... ICK! I can barely stand to touch it at this point.

Not only do I have a growing animosity towards this particular knitting project, but there is another project I'm anxious to get started on - a *gasp* PERSONAL project! I want to do some painting on a big canvas. I've got an idea in mind, and I'm just excited to get going on it. Also, my plan is to lose weight and reward myself with a new homemade dress... in my favourite colour - deep purple!

Personal projects aside, I've also got aspirations and new ideas for my etsy store. And maybe, just MAYBE, even open another store just for the scrub caps I sew, and perhaps some other bits 'n bobs. *shrug* We'll see... Basically what all this means is that I need to go to Michael's and stock on supplies! w00t!


By the way, if you're looking for something totally cute and unique and/or feel like treating yourself, check out this etsy store, Hearts for Haiti, where all sorts of wonderful etsy sellers have donated items to sell with 100% of profits going to Doctors Without Borders to aid them in their work with Haiti! So far they have raised OVER $12,000, which I think is just AMAZING!!!!

Everybody's Favourite Savior of "Slack!"  

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That's right, folks! We have a legend in our midst!


May I introduce to you the famous J.R. "Bob" Dobbs [who appears courtesy of the Church of the SubGenius]! J.R. here is part of my latest project, the "Bob Bag," which I'm sure you all remember me referring to many other times. Well, it's finally underway... again!

     The reason I say "again" is because I actually started it a few days ago,  got about eight rows into his lovely mug... and realized I royally screwed up. So I had to completely unravel all my work and start a-new. It's alright, though - It was a real learning experience!

     You see, I have never knitted anything from a picture pattern. Mine are always written out [including the only time I used a picture pattern in the past, when I was just learning how to knit, and my awesome mother wrote the whole pattern out for me], but this time I realized I couldn't just wing it, so I sat down to write the pattern out myself. That's only part of the battle, too. I still have to think while I'm knitting because of the multiple colours and multiple strands of said colours. Yes, I said multiple strands.

      This is not only my first experience with what is called "intarsia" knitting, but also "fair isle" knitting, and it's just about as complicated as you can get, unless your Scandinavian and fancy knitting yourself one of those gorgeous sweaters. While I am only knitting with three colours, I have five strands yarn going. It's my own, personal mutation of several knitting methods, I guess! Like I said, I'm not going by any pattern here, just the gridded picture from this awesome book by the amazing domiknitrix, so I don't really know if I've done something wrong until after I've continued to knit and I come across a deformity.

     It is my [non]professional opinion that knitting is WAY harder than sewing. Besides the obvious fact that you can finish a project much faster, with sewing, if you make a mistake you pretty much notice right away. You can also fix a single area without undoing the whole project... Not so much with knitting. With knitting, you don't always know if you've made a mistake until your about to finish the bottom of a sweater, only to realize you forgot to include the arm holes. The only choice you have [that I know of] is just to suck it up, un-pick all your hours of work, and start over.


     Un-picking is a horribly tedious project in and of itself, that to me just feels like salt in the wound. It's like your yarn is mocking you, reminding you of how much you suck. What, nobody elses' yarn talks to them? Well, that's besides the point! [I might mention, though, that it would seem my knitting needles talk to my cats - taunting them, looking to start trouble....] The point is that it's extremely frustrating and often tempts me to just give up. Not this time! I took a little break from it for a couple days, then came back and sat down to logically think the whole thing through.


     So here I am, three days into the project and so far, so good! I'm still learning as I'm going, but it's going pretty well, all things considered. I'm just under half way through "Bob's" face, leaving off this afternoon at the start of his eyebrows. Here come the complicated facial features! Weeee! It should be ok, though. I'm starting to get better at thinking ahead as to where I should leave which strand of which colour, so that I don't have to unpick the last row, only to re-do it carrying a strand so that it ends up in the right place for the next row. Phew.

     Here's hoping that I really am doing as well as I think I am, and that my next blog update will be a couple days from now, telling you all that I'm finished his face and it's all smooth, blue knitting from there!

Until then, "[Screw] 'Em If They Can't Take A Joke!" ...I've got some Project Runway to watch!

Coming Out of Holiday Hibernation  

Posted

Pfft. As if it were cold enough in Central Florida to warrant hibernation. Well, actually, it kinda is. Brace yourselves readers, this might shock you - We have SNOW in our forecast. Please, please - simmer down! Any Northern readers will no doubt be, at this moment, snorting at my use of the word snow. No, we won't be getting anything that will actually stick to the ground, but still - Doesn't the fact that there will be actual, real-life SNOWFLAKES falling down from the sky in FLORIDA deserve some attention? What was that nonsense about Global Warming? Nahhhh. It's just a conspiracy... Keep calm and carry on.


[Editing Note: I woke up at 5am to sleet against my window, so I walked outside to investigate and THIS is what I saw - Yes, the sleet was collecting on my plants and forming a snow-like appearance!]

Anyway. The purpose of this post may not be entirely to inform you of my latest crafting adventures... I know, I'm sorry. Well, it's just that, you know - with the holidays and all - I've not really done much... as in, I've done a fat load of NOTHING but get fatter! Ok, so that's not ENTIRELY true....

Right before Christmas, the always wonderful Miss Kelly came to me for more scrub caps... with some Christmas themed fabric. So, I spent a couple of days frantically trying to get those done for her to actually wear in time for Christmas. I finished those just in time to begin the mad bake-off for Christmas. I made Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough truffles, which tasted remarkably like cookie dough, despite not actually being made from cookie dough. [One more time for good measure: "cookie dough."] That's right - safe to devour without the risk of the nasties that come along with consuming raw egg! All there was to worry about was caloric intake, but since we all know that calories don't actually exist during Christmas, we were all free to gorge ourselves. They ended up being little festively bagged favours placed at everyone's table setting.

The other brand new, never attempted, edible crafting I did was to make biscotti! I wanted to make something that I could actually finish the night before Christmas, but that we could eat on Christmas morning [you know, before we broke into our stockings and started on the chocolate]. First of all, I have to admit that the author of this recipe [Biscotti with Cranberry and Almonds, dipped in White Chocolate] was none other than that HORRIBLE "Everyday Italian" Giada woman from the Food Network. Oh, how I loathe her! Her and her huge, toothy white smile and over-Italian-pronunciation. Blech! So whilst I secretly hoped that the recipe was horrible and icky, alas, it was delicious and simple. GRANTED, she tried to over complicate it with her usual, so-called "only the best" ingredients. Pfft. Maybe if I was married to a wealthy business man and had my own tv show on the Food Network I could afford to use only THE BEST white chocolate and FRESH dried, chopped cranberries - but then again, if I was, you wouldn't be reading this blog now, would you? And we all know how much you love reading this blog, so there you go! Anyway, despite her annoying me to death, even on paper, the damn stuff was delicious and I didn't burn the house down. I even bought a cute little glass tree shaped jar from - aw crap, caught again - WALMART to store them in! 'Tis the season to sell your soul for convenience.

So, where does that leave us - ah yes, Christmas day was a food-induced coma.... as was Boxing day... I honestly don't remember when my memory came back... So let's just write the whole week after Christmas off, shall we? I mean, honestly - who actually accomplishes anything between Christmas and New Years? Ah yes, New Year's Eve! Whilst I was busy getting my butt electronically handed to me on the Wii, apparently some people were shopping! I got a notification on my phone a couple hours before midnight of a sale on etsy! Pretty sweet way to bring in the New Year, if you ask me!

Unfortunately, stores apparently close early on New Year's DAY, which happened to be a Friday this year, so I couldn't get out to get any of my shipping supplies until the following Monday. I took everything I needed with me so I could package the order up in the car and drop it off at the Post Office on the way home. I also got some of the supplies I discovered I needed in order to finish the rest of Kelly's non-Christmas scrub caps - which I finally did today. I feel bad that it took me so long, but between the various holidays, coinciding shenanigans, lack of supplies, and sick days... well, the point is they are done now.

So there you have it! A nice long blog about absolutely nothing, really, to keep you entertained for a few minutes. It was just the combination of GUILT from not updating and the insomnia that has recently developed. I blame television. No, seriously. I watched the Season Four Finale of Dexter this past week and I'm absolutely TRAUMATIZED! I can't fall asleep because I just lie there, wrapped up in the fetal position, convincing myself it was a lie. You might also remember in my last post that I mentioned I was begining to watch Dr. Who... well, the Mayburys came over and schooled me on all things Doctor via DVDs. Just in time to get into it, and start figuring out just why Michelle is oh-so in love with David Tennant/ The 10th Doctor, and he's leaving the show! Nope. It's not happening. I've stuck my head in between the sofa cushions. If I haven't seen the 10th Doctor regenerate, well then it just hasn't happened! LA-LA-LA-LA!!!! .... Crap.



---- Author's/Editor's Note: As it is currently 1:14 in the morning and I am on a *gasp* PC that does not have a built-in spellcheck, as my glorious MAC does, I am clicking "Save Now" so I can wake up tomorrow [er...later today?], realize the error of my ways, correct said errors, and not look like quite such a huge ass. Just in case you were wondering why I was blabbing on about being an insomniac at two* in the afternoon... ----


*estimated time of consciousness