Heck yes!

Having a bum camera (hmm, sounds weird. I mean a non-working camera) for awhile really sucked because I had so much stuff made for different swaps. But good news, the camera is working, so I'm going to post a couple retroactive photos of recent stuff I've done.

I have successfully completed a DPN and Circular needle roll. I even have ideas on how to improve the basic design. Fancy, eh?

The inside:

The Sickness

So today I've been sick. Mostly just icky tummy and backache. But I felt a lot better when a strange box appeared at the door. Then I realized that the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino that I ordered eons ago and forgotten had finally arrived. So fondling new yarn is definately something I plan to do this evening.

I was also thinking how no one ever reads this blog. It's kinda depressing. Although what should I really expect? I don't promote it, nor do I want to. I don't update daily. I rarely update about crafts. I've joined the ranks of all the other faceless internet bloggers who say a lot to very few. Just having one of those days I guess. Forgive the melancholy. I'll be better in the morning.

My not-so-stunning epiphany

I came home today in utter dispair, as I surveyed the damage that a lazy boyfriend and girlfriend can wreak on a household. Especially when there's 4 cats to throw in a little surprise barf or piddle. And I came to a realization.... The reason I am not being in any way productive lately is because I literally have nowhere to do said production. The desk is a mess with crafting supplies, the sewing table has become the "I don't want to put away laundry, let's heap the clean stuff over here" surface of doom, and the knitting has migrated into 3 rooms now. I need to clean, y'all. It's bad. So I'm dedicating this blog, at least for awhile, to my cleaning misadventures. And no, this doesn't mean that we're going into a season of 3 months with no posts since I didn't do anything about cleaning... I hope.

Friggin' school

Ok, so school has been keeping me pretty damned busy lately. But I did manage to do SOME crafting. Again, it's for gifts though so I can't post until after they have been received. But here's a couple of photos to tide you over until them...


Tweek discovers the gerbils...

... and then trys to look innocent.

w00t! Actual crafts in a craft blog!

So I started to feel guilty about all my WIPs. It got to the point where I was comparing my progress in life to the basket of half-knitted shame in my living room. SOOOOooooo I finished Knucks. I have to also guiltily admit, I also finished them because it's getting cold here at night and I can't be pursuaded to leave the computer when my hands get cold.

I made these out of Reynold's Odyssey 100% merino on size 6 needles. This yarn is awesome, super soft, and the camera doesn't do the colorway justice. It's color 441 Purple Mix. I'm definately going to start making more of these. I think there are a few ways to improve on the pattern though, so I'm going to try that next time.

Damn.

I've been crafting my head off here, and I can't post any photos because all my crafting has been for swap partners on Craftster. But let's see, what else have I done lately that I can talk about...

Started learning UNIX today in my CIS 320 class. I've worked with it some, but definately am a n00b. It's funny, when I don't know the UNIX command I try to use the DOS command, just like when I don't know the German word I try to use the Spanish word. Maybe that's only funny to me. And maybe it's not funny. But it's interesting (no it's not). Ahem.

So the current standing of my knitting WIPs: one Patons Bohemian garter stitch scarf, one soy silk drop stitch scarf, Paint Box purse that will eventually be felted, Banana Silk purse, one alpaca blend lace wrap, and one of two fingerless gloves completed. The scarves, purses, and wrap are all in various states of unfinished-ness. I'm trying to curb my desire to knit with some of my new yarns... I got Sari Silk, and this super soft stuff that I"m not sure what it is.... kind of a cross between boulce and fun fur, but not nearly as disgusting as that combination sounds. I'm also waiting for some yarn to come in to make MagKnit's Odessa hat for my friend.

As for the cats, someone has been puking in devious little places that I either find by foot, or spy whilst eating. Either way is unpleasant. Frodo is usually the one blamed for everything, but this morning I heard a hacking while Frodo was present for his morning cuddle, so it can't be him. Unless... do you think cats can psychically bi-locate, and Frodo was simultaneously puking on my living room rug while being petted and kissed by me before I got out of bed? Scary thought.

Ok, it's been awhile.

I haven't been lazy about crafting, I've just been lazy about posting. Haven't been doing a whole lot of knitting lately (translation: been knitting my head off but nothing is getting finished). I did however start making stitch markers. I will post a bunch of stuff this weekend as it's a 3 day weekend (YAY!).

I also just turned 25. I'm now halfway through my twenties. I pretend like it bothers me more than it actually does. For my birthday, The Boy bought me a season of the Simpsons, flowers, and this gorgeous necklace. I lurve it.

Received from my first real swap.

I got my bag from my first real Craftster swap the other day. OMG it rawks.
I love the material! Among the loot are some amazing stitch markers, cat themed patches, a couple of journals and some yarn. Was so happy to get the package. Everything was so awesome.

Last night I made some earrings too. First earrings I've ever made really. Finaly busted up one of the old keyboards I got at the thrift store for $1. They're just keys with some random beads. I didn't have any resistors so I couldn't use them, and the keyboard's resistors didn't have long enough tails to make them worthwhile harvesting. Still, I'm happy with the result. I've been making stitchmarkers like a mad hatter (or mad stitchmarker-er?) but I'm too tired to take photos right now.

OMG CATS!!!!!!!!!

@#$&@#$#@!!!!! When I came home today, the mason jar with the potho cutting was tipped over, and the cutting was all wilty with a dried-looking root! I put it back in water in a safer place. Evelyn, I've got my eye of sauron on you.

OMG Plants!

Check it y'all, I've been busy! I'll try to keep the photos down, so you'll just have to promise to go to my Flickr account to see them all!

The little mason jar is my potho cutting. The large leaf is a little mangled thanks to Evie, but the cutting seems to be putting out a nice root, and has already developed another leaf. Haven't decided if I'm going to try to pot it, or just let it be a jar plant.

This is my "cutting" table. The two large coleus were new plants, but the other little things are my cuttings and seeds. I have a baby spider plant in the back there, two dilapidated coleus staked up with toothpicks, some strawberry seeds in the pot o' dirt, and an avacado pit that's sprouting any day now.

And lastly, my prideful plant shelf. It's my main shelf and the only spot in the house that gets any decent amount of sun. I got me purty spidey plant, two geraniums (top and bottom shelf), my herb garden, my ficus, and the random pots on the top shelf are cat grass (not sprouted yet) and garlic!

"Not So Crazy But Very Rambling" Ramblings

It's practically a parade of packages persistently present on my porch. So far I've received 3 packages, all containing the textbooks I ordered online for cheap( yay!). My mom told me she mailed me a box of pants... yes, pants. There is a reason, but I just don't want to get into it right now. Ya know? Anyway, so I'm expecting that. My boyfriend also ordered a new computer, so we should be getting his box soon, as well as a box from my best friend for my birthday. Can't wait to see what she sent. Love you, Liz. Other than that, I ordered a new camera off of Newegg. I really shouldn't have spent the money, but the big honker of a camera I have now is just too much to carry around. And I want to be all stealthy with my photo abilities, and spring out the camera at a moments notice to capture all the exciting things happening in my life. No for real, my life is exciting! I swear! Shut urp!

In other news, yesterday was Plant Tuesday at Chez Mary, and today is Clean-My-Messy-Ass-House Wednesday. See, told you my life was exciting. Well, at least about the plant part. I bought some new herbs to make a potted herb garden in my kitchen. I got basil, rosemary, and sage. I'm also placing my bamboo in the middle in hopes that the aromatics will deter Evelyn from eating the damn stuff. Two new coleus plants joined the family, as well as a hot pink geranium and a ficus. I have no fucking clue why I bought a ficus, but it was small and pretty and I had some sense of "every house needs a tree." Now I have to find out how to take care of a ficus because, honestly, I have no friggin clue.

And lastly, I saw this today and I friggin love it.

Knitting, Australopithecines, and Darth Vader

What part about "I need to just sit down and finish one... just one... of my poor forgotten projects" did I not understand? I got into a knitting frenzy this last weekend, and now I have more unfinished projects!!!! I was working on a scarf for a friend of mine... just stash busting really. See, awhile ago I got over-ambitious and thought "Hey, what would be fun to knit? I know! A stockinette stitch black sweater!" And that is how I ended up with about 10 skeins of black boring Caron Simply Soft. Well, I guess it's better than having 10 skeins of red heart. At least this stuff is actually soft. Anyway I also knitted one of Knucks. So even though that one glove is done, it doesn't have a mate and therefore sits, as Kim puts it, in the Knitting Basket of Shame.

In other musings, I was up till 4am last night talking with my boyfriend about various things. The first was a 30 minute lecture on Australopithecus afarensis. I know, its sad that I know the latin name. But oh well. We got to talking about Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles (which he's read) and the theory that Jesus was a vampire. Amusing. As if that weren't enough, I started blabbing about medieval history, and how I enjoy that era the most. And then there was the discussion of Constantine and the Roman Empire. Oh yes, we talked about many things.

Our evening ended on a more contemporary note. We were discussing what it is that makes Darth Vader so awesome. His view is that Vader is a very Git'R'Done type of leader. I argued that it is Vader's incredible stillness that makes him great. I mean think about it. The Emperor is essentially a chatty cathy doll, who is always yapping and yammering about something. Vader is stealty and silent. Much more imposing in my opinion.

Works in Progress

That amuses me. Works in Progress. In my house, they're called Works making no Progress. I currently have two pairs of socks, a tank top (which I started a loooooong time ago), two scarves (one started over a year ago), a dish cloth, a hat, and Kate sitting around all sad because they are not being worked on. For some reason I've developed real knitting ADD lately. It's normal for me to have a battleground of unfinished projects strewn helplessly around my house. But this is rediculous. And I keep planning the next shawl, or hat, or something that I'm going to make. I need to just sit down and finish one... just one... of my poor forgotten projects. If for no other reason than I need the damn needles and I don't want to buy a duplicate set. I know, I know, I could thread a lifeline through the work and just take the needles... but then I know I'd never finish the project because it would require reinsertion of said needles. And let's face it, I'm too damned lazy to do that.

On the upside, I finally finished the bag I was making for the Caftster Fill A Purse Swap. I also got it sent out a few days early. This is unheard of. I still have a package sitting around for my friend's Christmas present. That's Christmas as in Christmas '05. In fairness to me, I sent the thing out in Feb. and it came back to me in late May for some unknown reason. But still, now you understand the proudness of getting something mailed out early!

Back to knitting, I have decided my next project will be a Kitty Pi. Lord knows my cats are spoiled brats (HA! that rhymed!), but I don't make them wear hats, and I call Mia "fats." And ok I'll stop with the bad cat poetry now. The cats really do need a new kitty bed though. My hope is they'll love it, sleep in it, and in doing so deposit all their hair instead of depositing their shed all over my couch. I'll keep you posted on the results.

Sorry, no photos today. Like I said, I'm lazy.

I don't know why....

... but this made me happy today.

SQUEEEEEE!

Hooray for good sewing machines!

I've fallen in love with my mother's sewing machine. The kind of love that, were it directed toward a human, would be considered superficial. "It's so handsome... strong and silent... nice biceps." Ok, well maybe not the biceps. But seriously, no tangling bobbin threads, smooth and quiet motor, sleek and spiffy design, and nifty little storage compartments built into the machine itself. No searching high and low for the box containing my extra feet, no! Not with this beauty.

Mom's machine is the same brand as mine (Bernina) but her's is about 10 years newer. It's awesome! I used it to finish up the bag I'm making for the swap (will post photos once my partner receives!) and it was no trouble at all.

My precious. I wants it.

If only I had money.

*sigh*

Joy in knitted alien form.

First of all, let me give credit where credit is due. The photo pictured is an example of what mine looks like, and is actually the photo from the Alien Dishcloth pattern. As the caption suggests, I will post the photo of the one I made in due time. Still, I'm pretty proud of it. Mine isn't as pretty, as I didn't have cotton and had to use acrylic yarn (ick!). Still, it's awesome. I am trying to cut down on my massive paper towel usage. I'm cheap, what can I say? It's not for love of forest lands. No. It's for love of being able to buy more yarn and crafty goodies.

The new man in my life.

Well we added a new member to the family. Meet Tweek. He's a bundle of energy, this one. Dancing the exquisite dance of fur and claws, he's a daily alarm clock. This kitten doesn't know the meaning of calming down. He plays and plays and plays and BANG! he's asleep. No cooldown period, no notice, just BANG! Anyways, welcome to our family, Tweekers.

Argh, so much for regular updates.

But I have a good excuse. I have been knitting and crafting my little heart out for the purse swap I'm doing on Craftster. I can't post photos until my partner has received her package, so alas there are no photos to accompany this post. In fact, I shall toy with your emotions more by saying that I can't even describe all the goodies that I've made to fill the purse. Sendouts are by August 8th, and I actually think I'll be ready to send out by next weekend, depending on how well the finishing of the purse goes. I have some pockets to add and embellishments to make still.

As for home life, my ever wonderful boyfriend just adopted a kitten from the humane society. We're having trouble with names though. He's convinced that the kitten looks Russian, so in a monumental moment of dorkishness I suggested the name Captain Marko Ramius. Points if you know the reference.

Only a little pox left

I managed to revive my ailing apartment. At least, revive it from the brink of death. Now it's just slightly ill. Go me! I ended up cleaning the whole kitchen, although I only had time to sweep and not mop the floors. I also stopped ignoring the existence of the litterbox closet. Phew, man, I gotta get more regular about cleaning that. Ugh. Anyway, suffice it to say, I got that cleaned and swept too. In fact, the whole downstairs got cleaned and swept. All I have left to do is move the TV into the right place in the living room, and take out a few empty boxes to recycle. Then the whole downstairs is mother-presentable. Upstairs? That's a story for another time. :)