What I've Been Up To

Usually I'm pretty good about updating, but truth be told I haven't been doing anything of interest lately. I've been busy. But I haven't been interesting. There is a difference.

About two weeks ago I stopped by the library to pick up my books on hold. These are just a few of what I checked out. The lady at the desk was pretty surprised. There are actually four books missing from this pile, though the other four weren't all craft related:

The sad part? I'm returning all of them without using them. I went through them. I perused the basics. I perused the patterns. I perused the techniques. Nothing I didn't already know. (Not to say that I'm a know-it-all.) But they aren't very useful to me. I will say that "Family Knits" and "Chic Knits for Stylish Babies" have some neat patterns, but I'm not interested in, (another), all cabled sweater or intarsia knits for a 12 month old. Too much work with too little wear in my opinion.

Though I haven't been using the books, I have actually been doing a bit of craft:

This is one of the needle cases I'm working on. I'm thinking of calling it, "Dog's Life". The wrong side is a dark brown corduroy. As you can see, the right side is a bunch of cute doggies. I still have the seaming and pockets to do though. I did finish the pink and brown one for one of my sock pals though and I'm quite pleased.

I've even been knitting, though when I timed myself to see how long it took to knit one row of the Tilted Duster skirt I was shocked to see it took 10 minutes! I still have another 53 rows to go, which means 530 minutes, which means approximately 8.8 hours of knitting - just the skirt!

There's something funky going on, on one of the increase sides. I'm hoping it will block out.

I've also started my Hogwarts Sock Swap socks. I started them two nights ago and worked quite a few rows watching "Vacancy" on DVD last night. I'm almost to the heel. Four more pattern rows and I should be there. They are awfully pretty and Shawn even said he wanted me to make him socks out of the yarn. Looks like I'll have to order more.

It's a pattern from "More Sensational Knitted Socks" by Charlene Schurch, though I don't think you can really see the pattern until it's on the foot. I have decided to make a fold over cuff with a picot edge. I think they will make a really cute pair of socks.

AJ's thoughts on:

cats: Pepper has disappeared. She's been missing since Wednesday. Dalton hasn't really gone out looking for her, so I can only take that as he's happy she's gone. (She really antagonizes him.) We've all gone out calling her name and looking for her, but to no avail. She's probably living it up at a neighbors, who don't have kids dressing her up or babies making her sticky. I hope she's alright.

rain: It, (finally), rained here in Southern California. And a lot. Oh it was nice. It started on Friday night. Shawn ended up falling asleep pretty early. So, Dalton and I kept each other company on the balcony watching the rain come done over the street lights and watching the short lived lightning. I love falling asleep to the rain. I'd really be ok with it raining on a daily basis. I love it! (Perfect hot chocolate and chili weather, which we did Friday.)

sewing machines: they suck! I snapped a needle the other night going over some corduroy. The good news was that when I went to JoAnn's to get new needles I learned that they offer sewing classes. They are $40 for four 1 hour classes and they work with you on the basics. Which I need. So I'm hoping to sign up in a week.

money: I never have enough! I blame the yarn stores, the bead shops, the miles of fabric...I blame artsy fartsy kind of stuff that I think I need to learn. I'm repainting the bedroom. Enough said.

Me and my damn ideas.