Place Me On Your Shelf

So i’ve been away for a little bit. Between my mom getting married and a friend getting married, and school, and work, and life in general…
Things just have not gotten finished.
Thankfully, after this weekend, I get a bit of time to unwind from all the stress of the summer, and truly enjoy being back at school.
So… I guess I should say what HAS gotten finished…
I almost completed a “Matron of Honor” Dress for my mother’s wedding. It ended up being less formal and I was permitted to wear a sundress.
I spun a little bit in my spare time.
My desk moved to a much nice location.
I am working on completing another “Matron of Honor” dress for a friend’s wedding.
I am working on trying to be more honest rather than nice. I keep reverting back to thinking “if I say this, people will be happy” and then I end up owing people mittens and socks and gloves and such. So, after I catch up this recent batch, no more! I am going to knit something for MYSELF. The only thing i’ve knitted that I still own is a dicebag. Everything else has gone to other people some way or another.

That being said, I’m out to locate expensive college books. Oh joy.

to-do

Lost my mojo. Wanted to get it back, figured I need to do something for myself.

So, Pmoys, you never seem to make original designs! This is yet another case, isn’t it?
Right you are, Me talking to myself!
This is an older classic style dress. Victorian Maiden if i recall right.

I can’t fit into their stuff nor afford it, and I have had this fabric for 4 years. This dress is coming at literally no cost. Thread, Zipper, Lining Fabric… total has cost me about 12.00 so far. And since it’s been a few years I won’t count the original cost of the fabric. (though still about 30.00) So a 45.00 dress? Instead of 300?

Now if I could just learn to sew for sizes other than my own!

Uncategorized

Been catching up on things!
My quest for a vegetarian diet is not going so well. I keep flopping back and forth between veggie days and “normal” days. I will just have to try harder.

I finished up a skirt for my friend Kai.

I got started on the October is for Spinners (Rav Link) scarf (FINALLY! I’ve been wanting to for about a year! Don’t worry, everything else should still get done!)


I can see where i got a little messy with my PRTs, but I’m not sure if I want to fix it or not… If I have to rip it out, it may sit dormant for a long time…

in progress, knitting, sewing

I got this beautiful fiber from spin knit and life on etsy. This particular fiber is a blend of merino, corriedale, and domestic wools. It was called Northern Lights, but when I’m done, I hope to rename it “Aurora Borealis” because it sounds a bit more fancy.

I think it will turn out as a lovely yarn, but im still not sure if it should be lace-weight or light fingering.

spinning

It seems that 5 years in lolita fashion has done me in. I still love the romantic style I first fell in love with, but I find myself leaning more to natural kei, morigirl, and a few other looks I can’t find names for at the moment. Something more natural and free. Feminine, with muted colors, lace and pearls, but the direction that lolita has gone in has become overly sweet for me. (A shame, I never did get to do some of the looks I wanted to…) All good things must come to an end, yes?

We’ve finished moving, but not unpacking. The new place is nice. I still need to acquire another bookcase before I can even think of trying to unpack again. We technically still do not have internet. It runs only to the television in the living room, which makes it a bit difficult to do things I would do otherwise. (is it too early to say I miss using my mac?)

Not much of anything going on lately, but I will be able to post photos in a week or so. Hopefully.

Uncategorized

Well, we got a good bit of snow here. up to my knee, sometimes my hip depending on how the snow fell in that area.
Our power was out for 2.5 days.
In those 2.5 days, we had a lot happen:
Had to skip work. Turned out okay though because work was cancelled.
The first night I was afraid to leave the cats alone. We stayed in the house with no heat, food, running water, etc. under 7 blankets and were okay. The cats layed all over us and under the covers and I felt really good.
Second Morning: Car battery died. As a result we walked 2 miles to the Advanced Auto Parts. Paid a lot for a battery… (I’ve never bought one before, so that’s just my opinion.)
spent the rest of the day commuting from friend’s house to friend’s house trying to find electricity and heat. My friend Amanda put us up for a while, and I really really appreciated it. I’m sorry I didn’t get to cook dinner like I planned. Dinner was offered to us by a friend earlier that day, and the mashed potatoes and meatloaf was amazing (if a little heavy on the onions, but it was a nice change!)
Second Evening: After dinner, husband decides we need a hotel. We check on the cats, everything is fine. I lay out more blankets for them just in case, trying to ease my conscience with “cats survive in the wild all the time”… Hotel was disgusting, by the by. Claimed it was a clean and non-smoking room, and when i picked up the plastic cup wrapped in plastic, two cigarette butts flew out and onto the floor. It made me question the cleanliness of the rest of the place.
Third Morning: Husband gets up. Car won’t start again. Too cold? We bought jumper cables, so we had some kind citizen jump his car. He got to work in one piece. I walked to work. A half a mile. Work deems me crazy for it, but I need the money.
Third Afternoon: (as I type) The water pipes in the bathroom busted. The bathroom in this house was an afterthought, built onto the outside of the house. It was inevitable that it would happen. Also, our siamese, Izzy, is incredibly smart. So much so that I nearly had a heart attack. He figured out how to open the attic. He’s downstairs, more of a rogue than an explorer-type. Our two girls (Alice and Poncho) ran into the attic. Makes sense. Heat rises. The problem is I was horribly afraid they would fall into the walls and die. So I’m up there with our roommates digging the cats out. Mother called and announced her decision to visit early, ruining our shopping plans to get her a Christmas gift. (I know, I know it’s 2 months late. We haven’t seen each other and some things have come up that are preventing us from getting things done in a timely manner.)

In the end: All is well. We’re running out to grab her something tonight, and will have a fun week with her.

I really do miss my mom. It’s weird to not have her, but I think I’d feel stranger without the husband.
That’s been the last 3 days. :D Time to relax!

cats

I had a day off today, and aside from completing some pajama pants that were due finished before christmas for the sister-in-law…  I decided to try “Hot Chocolate on a Stick”. They are in the fridge as I type this sentence. I got the recipe from Gifters Log, and thought it was PERFECT for this time of year. I have no chocolate-crafting experience, and I found this to be easy. I would say… Keep your cats away and use a frosting bag instead of a sandwich bag. Mine didn’t seal properly and made a big big mess….

Read more…

food, to-do

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These are two new yarns that have been spun up recently. The blue is a bulky weight called opequon and only has 18 yards. The calico colored one is a worsted weight called Lucy after my mother’s cat, and is 30 yards.

I hope to do something yarn related every day this year.

spinning

I tried, I really did. It’s too close to christmas to start a yarn diet. I have way too many things left to finish.

1. 2 commissions from much longer ago than they should be.
2. Pair of sock for my grandmother
3. pair of socks for my mother-in-law
4. pair of gloves for my mother.
5. Maybe a hat for my grandfather.
6. I would need to sew a gunsock for my father-in-law.
7. My sister-in-law M will get a gift certificate to Sephora
8. sister-in-law S will get a duffel bag with horses on it for when she runs track or visits friends
9. Brother-in-law J1 will get a game, courtesy of husband’s paycheck
10. Brother-in-law J2 will get… I guess whatever husband decides. I have no idea what to get him.
11. Stepsister A and her husband shall get a card with some cash.
12. Stepsister S will get a card with some cash, and an invitation to write while she is deployed.
13. Father and stepmom…. we get them butter cookies every year. I think I want my little brother to get those for him this year, and I’ll get him something from Pittsburgh Popcorn. (best ever!)

That covers family. Then I have friends. As much as I want to get all of my friends stuff, it really doesn’t work that way… I may send some boxed cookies for a few friends, and then some random things to others.

I will post them as I finish them, but I have to get those commissions done first. (I say this, but goodness, does it ever happen? Hopefully. I have a ten day break coming up where I’ll be down in my hometown in West Virginia. I will probably take my sewing machine so I can get some work done.

Now for some pictures of yarn!

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knitting, start

I’ve lived in pittsburgh for… going on 5 months now. You would think I would have been to the yarn store by now…

My husband said he would take me today. So we went to Yarns Unlimited. It was an amazing experience. I starting flitting about, and was really nervous, so I tend to do this really odd… movement with my arms. Lets say you are banging both your fists on a table. I do this in the air when I am excited. No idea why.

I ended up picking some amazing yarn for a project I had planned on using another color for… But I saw this green and fell in love. Maybe I can use it for something else.

4 skeins =1748 yards

The ladies were friendly and very helpful. I’ve never been so much in a yarn nirvana. (though this does mean I’ve broken my yarn diet… *sigh *)

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to-do