Spending Money...

...Is just way too easy, especially when it all comes at once! When it rains, it really does pour...

For the last several weeks I've felt broker than broke, due to holiday recovery, tuition/books, and my hours at work being hacked. I've been on a spending freeze, not buying any yarn, patterns, books, basically anything for myself besides gas and food. So, I was in total anticipation of last Friday, cuz it was my payday and I was going to allow myself a yarn purchase... I get home from class, and what is waiting for me but my income tax returns!! Woo-Hoo!!

So, all weekend long I shopped and shopped, spent soo much money, close to $400 not including my bills. I bought myself 6 skeins of Lamb's Pride wool, and I feel like that is the only thing I have to show for my money! Of course, it is not, but I bought a bunch of small things, some things for RAOK's, car washes/vacuums for me and hunny, dinner at a really nice place, some things for my secret pal's gift, and my money was gone! Usually I am so thrifty, but this was like *bonus* money for me, and I had fun blowing it! I can't wait to send my pal her package, cuz I know she's gonna love it...

I forgot, I did buy myself a bike tho! I've been wanting one for awhile, and yesterday at Walmart they had a big sale, 1/2 off all the clearance stuff. Well, it just so happens the bike I'd been eyeing for awhile, normally $120, was marked at a clearance price of $45! So I got the bike I WANTED for only $23!! Even for my frugal self that is an amazing deal, and I'm so tempted to ride thru the snow just to use my new bike...

Then, today I check my mail, and I have another fat check!! My financial aid has FINALLY gone thru! I received the first of two checks today, paid my mom back most of what I owe her, and now I feel like I have money again! It's so weired how it works out, I go from having no cash to acquiring over a grand in like 4 days... Of course, I don't actually have much left... But it is just funny how God works sometimes...

I finished my Lopi bag last week, fulled it, and it turned out really nice for the most part. I love the size and shape, might trim the straps down a little cuz they turned out longer than I'd intended. The wool is really really hairy, and I had to comb it to get chunks out. There's really only one problem: the pillowcase came open in the wash... I washed it with suede shoes... and now there are little tiny bits of suede embedded in my bag, and it looks just like it has BAD dandruff... I tried picking them out, but that is just not happening... I'm not sure how to get it out, the wool is so hairy, and I don't want to carry a bag with flakes...!

Now, I've decided to devote myself to hats for awhile... I'm ashamed I haven't made any for the charity along yet, so that's my next goal, to get at least five done and donated.

Talk to ya soon!

Lazy Hump Day

Well, today is my day totally off, no work or school! So I've been a lazy bum all day, it's 3:30pm and I still haven't showered! In fact, all I've done today is sleep, eat and get my nails gone, LOL. I love getting my nails done, I think I'm gonna stick with it. It's so nice to get pampered a little! But I think I'm gonna have to start buying my own polish, I'm sick of their pinks and I refuse to put any dark colors on my nails... just another thing to collect, I suppose!

I forgot to mention my "getaway" with Kris this weekend! Well, not really a getaway, since the foot of snow we had ruined his plans. I guess he was going to take us up north to his best friend John's cottage, with John and his wife and another couple we know, but Kris and John both plow snow so those plans were fudged right away on Friday! So, instead, we went to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) on Friday evening with my dad. I've gone almost every year since I was little, I guess that's just what you do if you live near Detroit. It's always fun to see what new cars they're all coming out with and get a look at the concepts, those are my favorite. This year I was blown away by the new Carol Shelby/Ford collaboration, the concept GR-1. Shelby is an automotive genius, and my goal is to one day own a 427 Cobra, which I've loved since I was like 6 yo.
Anyways, the car show was fun, then on Saturday all we did was plow snow, and then plow more snow... Later, Kris took me to dinner at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Coney, and he rented a hotel suite with a Jacuzzi, which was sooo nice after sitting in the truck all day. So, although it wasn't exactly the getaway he was hoping for, it was still really romantic and sweet, and I had a great time relaxing and hanging out with my sweetheart!

Well, I already have a list of potential gifts for my secret pal, plus she's dropping hints and has mentioned some things she wants. This is so much fun, I love sleuthing around for things that I think she might like! I've decided Friday I'll go shopping since I need to buy myself some things anyways, and I'll get some stuff together for her first package.

On the crochet front, I haven't even picked up a hook today! Like I said, I'm being rediculously lazy... Although, once I shower, which I swear I will do soon, I'm going to work on the sides of the bag I started with my Reynold's Lopi wool. It's a deep eggplant color which I don't usually wear but couldn't resist, and I've got the bottom done and now am going to work in rounds til it reaches a height I like. Then I'm going to full it, and line it with a cute khaki and eggplant colored paisley fabric I saw at JA's. I guess I should get to crocheting first, tho.

I re-covered my first couch over the weekend, too! I was so proud of us. Me and Ashley, who is Kris' little brother's girlfriend, and who was my best friend from K to about 11th grade, re-covered their loveseat with some vinyl leather look-alike fabric we bought at JA's for like $4/yd, plus the 40% off coupon. We spent less than $20 on the fabric, and what used to be the crappiest-looking little couch now looks like a nice leather one to the untrained eye. We had to use a staple gun, and since we both didn't want to sew there are a few visible staples if you look closely, but it looks a million times better and has encouraged me to finally buy some padding and fabric to re-cover Kris' Frasier chair. (Y'know, the ugly yellowish one with duct tape? I swear Kris has the exact same one, and he refuses to toss it cuz "it's comfy!")

Oops! What I intended to be a short post has turned into a ramble, so I'll stop here with a pic:

This is all the yarn I received from Fiber Options, and how much I've (manually) wound so far.

Secret Pals!

Well, we've all received our Secret Pal assignments from Tiffany! I'm so excited about who my secret pal is, because I think she will be both fun and challenging to shop for. I already have a few gifts in mind, and I can't wait to get together her first package, I just have to wait 'til I get some money...
Hopefully that will be soon, since my financial aid DID go thru, and my school should be sending my reimbursement check any day now. Plus, I filed my federal taxes Friday before last, and that should get direct deposited right into my account soon too. (I know I'm really early, but I waited so long to file last year, I figured I would beat the rush this time around!)
Anyways, the person who has my name has already contacted me! I received a nice long email from her earlier today, and I'm so excited! It sounds like whoever she is will be really spoiling me, I can't wait. By the way pal, I forgot to mention, I love anything that comes in a neat package. I buy rediculous things cuz they come in cute boxes or tins...
I have to leave now for work, but before I go here are a few more pictures:





This is a hat I made from 2 strands LB Fisherman's Wool with 8mm and 10mm hooks. I used the Homespun Cloche pattern from LB's site, with a few modifications. I ran it thru a hot/cold wash for one full cycle with a healthy splash of vinegar and 2 pairs of shoes, and I love the way it turned out, it fits perfectly!

Pictures! Finally!

I broke down and took my camera card to CVS to run off some prints tonight. So, I actually have some pictures to share!! I don't want to use them all up at once, so I'm gonna reveal a few at a time, LOL, to keep things more interesting...

Here's my finished Amore poncho, modeled on my rocking chair:



And here's my doggy, Mikey, on the stadium blanket I made for Lauren:



The blanket is made in her varsity soccer colors, gold and navy blue. Here's a close up of the stripes:



And here's a closer up of the nasty gold color and stitch I used:



The stitch is from Jan Eaton's 200 Block book, I believe it was called the "bluebell block" or something like that. I used Bernat SS yarn and an H hook.

We have had almost a foot of snow today! Kris has been plowing nonstop for almost 17 hours now, and still has several more to go. Hopefully I will have pictures tomorrow - it was snowing too hard to take one today! I've been crocheting like a fiend, and started/nearly finished a poncho for me mum. It's out of LB Homespun, and will be so perfect for a freezing day like this one...

I'm off for now...

Mail Goodies!!

Yesterday, blogger ate my post, so after trying two times I finally just gave up.

I'm so glad I waited, cuz now I have more fun stuff to write about!

My UPS man stopped by with a huge box full of yarn yesterday!! It was my order from Fiber Options that I'd written about earlier. I am so overwhelmed with the amount of yarn I got! I thought I would be getting one cone of the cinnabar red and one of the cream puff color. Well, I received TWO cones of each color! Plus, these are gigantic - seriously! I thought they would be about 8in tall - they are about 12 in, plus about 8 wide... Huge! My arm is about to fall off with all the winding I have been doing - I really need to break down and buy myself a ball winder...

I think I'm definitely gonna continue buying yarn like this, in fact I'm eyeing some cotton chenille she has right now, but I'm not allowed to use my credit cards, so I have to wait. I think this stuff will work up okay on a G hook. It's a little less fuzzy than I'd expected, but still pleasantly soft. It almost felt stretchy when I made a swatch yesterday. I'm not really sure what to make out of it... Any suggestions? I was thinking a shawl, but I'm not a shawl type. It hasn't really spoken to me yet, besides screaming "WIND ME!!"

My second mail goody came today! I've been RAOK'ed again! This is so exciting, I'm just like a little kid when it comes to receiving mail, I swear. I was expecting this gifting, my Fairy Godmother wanted to be sure there were no duplicates, since it is a fairly large gift, and had let it slip over a week ago that I had something on the way. So, of course I have been running to check my mailbox everyday since, and I actually met my mail woman on the walk today when I saw she had a box!!

So, enough with the build-up - my gift was the book Crocheted Afghans by Donna Kooler. I love to make afghans, and there are so many great projects in this book! My Godmother was right, I will be getting tons of use out of it! I especially love how they're grouped into styles, like baby, country, and manly, LOL! (I've already got one of the baby afghans picked out to make for Kris' best friend's baby, which is due in the summer.) She also sent a card with a wonderful compliment, which has totally made my week! THANK YOU, Fairy Godmother, I love and appreciate this gift so much!!

My last crochet related tidbit for today - I've discovered a fellow crocheter in close proximity!! Yay! Really, she discovered me, LOL... Our mothers have been best friends since like gradeschool, I think, and recently my mom met up with her friend, and her daughter, Megan. Turns out, Megan has just recently started crocheting too! So, last night I received an email from her, and I'm so excited... I wrote back and suggested she check out Crochetville, since everyone there is so wonderful. My mom has told me that Megan hosts some crafty girls meetings, not necessarily crochet, down where she lives, about 25 mintues away, which is awesome. I would love to share some of my crochet things with her too, there are some patterns from Bunny that I'm sure she will love!

The snow has stopped, for now - Kris was out all day yesterday plowing, and I went with for most of the day, since I had no school/work. He had a few minor crises with his truck, but they were resolved and he finished everything up around 6 or 7... but woke up at 4:30 am to start... We were tired kids at the end of the day - I could barely keep my eyes open during LOST and fell asleep right afterwards - felt sooo nice to get a long rest! More snow is expected this weekend, 3-7 depending on how the wind blows, so that may put a damper on our getaway...

Which I haven't mentioned! A few weeks ago, Kris told me to take this weekend off work. So, I did, and all I've managed to find out between then and now is that we're going "somewhere," I have no clue where... It's so cold up north right now I'm sure we're not going to the cottage, but he has no credit card to make reservations with, so I've no idea what he's got up his sleeve!

Alright, enough jabber for now, more soon. Happy thoughts to everyone!

I have to make sure I copy all this before I try to post, like Mitzi suggested - I can't!! Oh no! I wonder why not?

Also - ! (sorry, I said I was done) I would like to link to blogs that are currently buttonless - how do I get the text to appear with a link to the blog after the list of buttons? Any help would be marvelous...! Thanks!

Now, really, I'm done.

Grr.

I'm in a spiteful, bitchy mood today.

The Witch from work is screwing with my schedule again, and I'll be working only 10 hours next week. I seriously need to find a new job. OH, how I wish one of my yarn suppliers was hiring, I don't care if it was a JA's or a LYS...I just need a new job.

Hearing about deserters at Crochetville is upsetting...

On an up note - Kari from Dogwood Dreams (over there, to the right for a link) has received my package! I sent her some Burt's Bee's stuff and a few other things I thought she would like, and I am so glad to hear that she has received it and likes it!

AND - !

I can't believe I forgot - I finally finished the damn poncho. My first one! It took too long but only cuz I kept stopping. I've received so many compliments! It made it's debut on Thursday night, right after I finished it, at the bowling alley. My co-workers loved it! It's a little oversized and the fringe is asymmetrical, so I guess it could be classified as hippie-ish. The Amore yarn is sooo cozy and warm! Then I wore it to work again today, and 2 of my regulars who are couture, latest-Louis Vuitton types complimented me on it - one even asked where I got it! I swear I will post pics soon.

Now my problem is - how do I wash this thing? I HATE washing by hand, but will do it to save this poncho. Have any of you ever washed Amore?

Currently I'm working on a hat made with sock yarn. I guess you could say it's my own pattern, since it's not made with a pattern, I was just screwing around and it's what ended up happening. There's a granny square type flower in the top and then the yarn self stripes all the way down...

Guess I'll have to post pics of that too, as soon as I finish it up.

I bought myself a ball of Divine last night, the creamy color. Whenever I don't know what I want to buy I end up with cream yarn. I don't know why, I seem to gravitate towards it! I think I want to make myself the cloche from this season's LB catalog out of it, but I also have some blue homespun that I was considering for the same purpose.

I must stop making hats to keep, and start making them for the Charity Along, anyways.

I also made my first purchase from Melanie at Fiber Options yesterday. She comes highly recommended at Crochetville, by Elizabeth and many others, and I'm so excited to finally buy from her. I bought only 2 cones this first time, because I am supposed to have hidden my credit card...They are both acrylic chenilles, one cone is called cinnabar red and the other cream puff. They look and sound delicious! Eek, yet another yarn supplier...

Otay, I think that's all for now... Happy thoughts to everyone!

14K Gold?

Well, I dug thru the big box of stuff from Bunny tonite, and tossed a bunch of the yarn. Either they were icky colors, too sawdusty to be saved, or had a funny feel to them... Left a residue on my hands or something, I can't explain it. I also found a couple more pattern booklets, and some hooks. One of the hooks says its 14k gold plated, right on the side, where there would be a size printed! The other side says Oxmoor house. From a brochure I found I'm guessing it's a G, I'll post pix of both hook and leaflet tomorrow, hunny is bugging me to hurry so we can go back to his house. Was wondering if any of you have heard of seen such a thing? I gather it's a promo for some type of mail-order crochet club or something...

I have been slacking on my crochet... the poncho lays about 75% complete of the corner of the couch. I haven't touched it in a few days, now that school is back I feel like I have no time again. Yuk! At least I have the next 2 days off from work - YAY! Plus a bowling get-together tomorrow with my fun co-workers, that's always a good time.

I know I had more to say but am forgetting right now!

Oh yeah! - I edited my wishlist today to add a replacement for #9, my granted wish. I'm not sure about the policy on replacement wishes, so I hope this is okay! I guess it's really 2 wishes in one, but I couldn't decide which I preferred since I love both!

ROAK Wish List

Well, I've put together my first ROAK package tonight, and it will get mailed out tomorrow. I hope the recipient enjoys, as I had fun picking stuff out for her. Can't wait til Friday, a.k.a. Payday, to grant a few more wishes.

On another post related note, I also got Kari the Burt's Bee's stuff that I'd said I'd get for her, and will be mailing that out tomorrow too. Keep a look out, Kari!

AND - !

One of my wishes has been granted!! A wonderful Godmother granted my wish for office supplies by sending a beautiful portfolio of stationary from Florence, Italy. The set contains 10 notecards and 10 envelopes, and is marbled in earthy colors. I LOVE it!! Hopefully I will have pix to share soon. I've decided to not try to find a replacement wish for this one, because
1. I have not yet thought of one for #9, and
2. One can never have too many fun office supplies! I am a pen junkie...

School is started back up (boo) so the exhaustion has kicked in already.. I am NOT a morning person. My math class is way too easy - guess that's what happens when you take the placement test 4 years after your last math class... oops. They stuck me in fundy algebra - should mention I made it all the way thru honors math in HS and stopped at trig. So the prof. was teaching fractions, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes...Guess that will be an easy "A." So goes with my Psych. class, in which the grade is comprised of 4 exams, which are take-home. Yes. A week to complete some fill-in-the-blank and matching questions. Guess I didn't challenge myself very much this semester, but it will nice to get some easy credits.

Rebecca, I am so glad you received the Sock Monkey booklet! Be sure to post pix once you get one completed.

Thank you for your comments, Dear Readers, it makes me feel so special to read them!

Bunny's Things

Kris's grandmother, Bunny, passed away a couple months ago. She was an avid crocheter, and just a few days ago, Kris's grandpa told me to look thru her crochet stuff, and see if there was anything I could use. So, we went over there today, and I came out with a whole box full. Lots of acrylic yarns, as she made alot of afghans, some hooks and a few knitting needles, and alot of old pattern booklets and magazines. One magazine has the patterns for this beachwear:

It's also got some great cloche and skully style caps... and then there's a whole stack I've not even touched yet, including the LA book A Year of Afghans,1998 I think...

I'm so touched that they gave me her things. In one box there was an afghan that's almost finished, so I'm going to finish up the row, tie it off and throw it in the wash to soften it up a bit. It will be nice to have one more afghan from Bunny around the house.

Some things to show off

Well, today I found Chelle's yummy box of yarn that really came yesterday... It was hiding in between my screen and storm doors, and I never even thought to look there. Needless to say, I felt like a big jackass for not finding it earlier, and hopefully I will have a pic of it to share soon.

I've pampered myself all day today - started out by getting my nails filled and repainted a cute Barbie pink, then I dyed and trimmed about 4in off my hair! It looks cute this darker color, and I used L'oreal Shades dye, which washes out after about 2.5 months so there are no roots! YAY!

And finally, I got back a roll of film that was mostly blurry but did have a few successful shots, so I'll show them to you...

This one here is of the throw I made for Kris's mom, out of LB Wool-Ease.


and this one is the ripple blanket I made for Nick, Kris's brother, and his girlfriend, Ashley. Made out of RH and Mainstays with 9mm hook.


and this is the old lady hat I made myself with yarn I got with a GC... used the "boyfriend hat" pattern from Cozy Crochet modified a bit for a thicker yarn, with a J hook, took exactly 1 skein to make. It's soo soo warm and cozy, makes up for it's dorkiness.


Have a good day, all.

Woo-Hoo!

Today has been a great day!

First of all, a HUGE thank you to Heather for granting my wish for blog help!! She hooked me up with a bunch of copy and paste links for buttons and assisted me with pictures... (check below to see if it works!) I'm so grateful to her for taking time to answer my stupid questions! You rock, Heather!

Secondly, my TOTC hooks came today in the mail! I'd had Bill hold the N and 13mm hooks for me right after the holidays, and I have been patiently waiting to release them!!



They are both cherry wood, and I'm especially loving the way the 13mm feels in my hand. I will definitely be hunting for an excuse to use it!

And lastly, I got word from Chelle today that my package full of yarn from the swap should have been delivered today. This would be mildly disturbing, since her confirmation says it was delivered today, but we got bunches of snow yesterday and today, and it is very possible my mail lady overlooked it trying to hurry up her route. So, it will give me something to look forward to tomorrow, and then if it fails to come I will get suspicious.

My poncho is really coming along now, I have about 2 feet done so far and I'd say it's 18-20 inches wide ( I haven't measured!). I've set it aside for now, cuz I've been working at my blog for a long time and now I have to go check in at Crochetville and try to think up another wish, since one of mine has been granted!!

Snow! (And My Wishlist)

Lots of snow! We've gotten about 2-3 in. already, and it's supposed to start up again at about 3pm and not stop til morning!! Kris will be one busy guy with all his plowing, but he calls snow "little dollar signs from heaven" so even though he will be pooped he will love it when his checks come in. I think plowing is fun, personally, but I also get to go home and rest while he works upwards of 24 hrs!

I have figured out how to get my button here and also one for Crochetville, with much help from Donna! I'm still having difficulty trying to borrow other buttons, though. I want to put the swaps I'm involved in in the sidebar too, but can't seem to save the button as a pic! LOL, I feel pretty helpless at this point. It is also my goal to learn how to get some pictures up for everyone to see, but I have to develop film since my digital took a crap on me. Somewhere between the camera, the card, the connector cables, and the computer I'm having problems, and everytime I try to get pix from my camera my computer crashes. (Whew! How's that for alliteration?) So, for now at least, I resort to the old-fashioned way.

I wanted to thank everyone for all their kind comments and support with my blog. I feel like I'm being a pain and I really appreciate it!! You gals at Crochetville are the best! Sometimes I feel like I'm spending as much time there as I am crocheting... But I've met a lot of great people and participated in a lot of fun things, so it's worth it.

I'm very excited about the wishlist continuing as a RAOK thing. I've already seen several wishes that I am able and would love to grant! I was able to teach myself how to get that list in the sidebar, at least!! I hope that everyone receives several gifts on their lists. I know I'm going to try to send out at least 2 per paycheck, of the smaller ones at least.

...I feel like I've made a lot of progress today with this blog. Now, if I could only say the same for my poncho...

My Button

I have one! Thanks to Donna, I now am the proud owner of my very own button! Look:
My Button
Problem is, I don't know how to use it!! I can't figure out how to put a pic up here, it keeps saying I don't have either an opening or closing tag. And I don't know how to get it into my sig at Crochetville, or display buttons in a sidebar here... boohoo. This is gonna take longer than I thought to figure out!

I had to frog my poncho at about row 5, it was getting bigger as I went up so I had to start over with a looser chain. Yuk.

I'll post more later.

Learning

Woo-Hoo!! I've figured out how to get my picture up! Now I just have to develop all my film... ... ... and I will have pix to share, LOL!

Tonight I began work on a poncho I am keeping all for myself, my first poncho ever. (I know, I am a little behind on the poncho trend, making one now that they may or may not be out of style...) I've decided to use TLC's Amore in Garnet, and was inspired by this poncho made by Barbara over at Crochetville. It'll be made up of extended single crochet, since sc is way too slow and I have something against dc. This is the first time I've played with Amore though, and am LOVING the way it works up!!

I also got an email from Bill at TOTC, letting me know that he's mailed out the two newest additions to my hook family. This time I've got the N #2 and the 13mm #1 coming. I'm so excited! I just cannot rave about these hooks enough, and after I get these two, I will have all the sizes he makes from H through 13mm, which are my most frequently used sizes. So far, I've gotten only the cocobolo and cherry, but may have branch out to some other woods once I complete my current collections.

In other crochet news, I mailed out the little card today for a subscription to Crochet! magazine. Hopefully I'll like it, I can't seem to find it anywhere around me to check out first, so I went ahead and took the plunge into subscribing. I can't seem to find very many crochet related publications around me, it's a bummer! That's why I'd really love for the Pattern Swap to take off, I would love love love to get some new patterns! But no one else seems to really be interested, I guess I will just have to amass my own collection...

Tomorrow will be DAY II of the official job hunt. My witch of a boss at work holds a grudge against me, and is just cutting off my hours. I have to find a job before I don't have one anymore!! It's so stupid, because I really love the majority of my co-workers and enjoy my job and my customers, and would have been a loyal employee for awhile of not for The Witch. I only make $8 an hour, but it is so hard to find a job that starts at that with the experience/education I have that isn't hard labor! And I already feel so broke I couldn't possibly take less, guess I will just have to ease up on the yarn buying for awhile... :(

Welcome...

To my first ever blog! Hooray Natalie for finally catching up with the world!

Well, I guess I'll start out by saying that I'll try to keep this mostly crochet related. I really love to crochet. My next door neighbor taught me when I was eight years old, and I made so many doll clothes it was unreal. Then I made alot of scarves throughout middle and high schools, but not much else. Finally, when I quit smoking in May of 2004 I really began to take crocheting seriously again, because it offered a great, productive thing to be doing with my hands (That wasn't smoking cigarettes! Yukky!).
Since then I have really enjoyed making afghans for everyone I know, and I've been venturing out into the trickier areas of crochet. I have about a billion and a half patterns that I want to make, and keep finding more everyday! I am a member of Crochetville, a place I absolutely love, and spend a lot of time there, as well. Kris deals well with crochet obsession, although he flatly refuses to come within 10 yds of yarn with me in a store!!
I'm a bit unsure about this whole blogging thing, and am afraid that my life will turn out to be embarassingly boring, so bear with me readers (if there are any of you!).