January 29, 2009

Winter is still here

How to tell if your skin is dry:
flaky skin
brittle nails
cracking lips
Excema
Kinda sounds like side effects of drugs advertised on TV! I only know they're not since I'm not taking any of them...

Causes:
dry winter air
heaters recirculating said dry air

Solutions:
drink lots of water
lotion
boil water or use a humidifier
become a Snowbird and move temporarily to Florida

It's been cold and dry and almost without snow for all of January. It's getting old! Someday it will be June!

January 25, 2009

Sunday Crafternoon

I busted out the sewing machine yesterday. Finally! I made that needle case and I love it! It fits all of my needles perfectly and has just the right number of pockets for different sizes. The top pockets are too close to the top for needles, so they can hold other notions. I didn't end up using the brown floral, but I'm totally in love with the green and white and the birds! THE BIRDS!


I just started the Husky hat for Mikael. Kris did an awesome job dying and it is going to work perfectly for the pattern. I'm just doing a basic hat pattern from My Knitter's Handy Guide to Patterns. The colors seem to be stacking alternately with almost no pooling or overlap of the same color - maybe less than 5 stitches at a time.

If these pictures are terrible, I'm sorry. The sun is out and it's been in hiding for the last EON, so I had to acknowledge it.

January 23, 2009

Booya!

Fabric!! And it's adorable. Not sure what I'm going to do w/ the owls yet, but I had to have it :)

And I'm going to use this floral to make the needle case. I'm going to try and incorporate the other florals in, too, but I'm not sure yet how it's all going to come together.

Since I am home during daylight, I have this for you, too!

I haven't gotten the hat yarns yet. I expect the yarn to come from Kris tomorrow and the Etsy yarn to come early next week. They should be quick to knit and hopefully ready by next weekend or early the following week.

January 21, 2009

I suck at not buying yarn...

But I have an excuse this time!
Apparently I should never have said that not buying yarn would be really easy because I have a ton already. I do have more than enough, that much is true. What I don't have is enough amazing soft yarn and in the right colors for people I know being diagnosed with Leukemia. At the moment there are 2 and they are both in high school. The only way I can say a big "FU" to this horrible thing is to knit hats for chilly heads. I know about the chilly head part, but I can't relate on any level the trials associated with chemo therapy.
One of the symphony members I used to play with is one of these affected kids. She had quite possibly the worst Christmas last year - she caught a cold or something otherwise very mild and due to having no immune system it nearly killed her. She is doing better now and has taken a few steps across her room at Children's Hospital in Seattle, but this is nearly a month later. I don't know her very well and I don't want to seem like some sympathetic outsider, but I think she will appreciate it.
I bought this for her. The symphony manager told me she says her favorite colors are "Hawaiian colors." I'm pretty sure I like those, too, so I'm just hoping that our idea of Hawaiian colors are similar :)
Now I am thinking of how to say nice things to her w/o sounding sappy and lame while still being heartfelt and sincere. I suppose, though, if she can face chemo thereapy and mutant colds, I can at least find a way to say "good luck!"

January 19, 2009

No Buy Week

This week I'm not going to buy things I don't need. I certainly don't need any yarn*! That should be easy not to buy. I'm also trying not to buy things like shoes, different pilates videos, books, etc.
I've been working on lots of things.
Amused is approaching done and approaching a decision of whether I will keep it or rip it out and make something different. The neck looks way too big and I don't think I'll wear a blue potato sack very often.

My bus socks are doing well! I started on size 1.5's, but decided they were too tight on needles that small, so started over on 2's. I'm not sure yet if the foot will be on 1.5's or 2's - 1.5's make it dense, but 2's might make it too loose.

As soon as I'm done w/ these 2 projects I want to work on something that I don't rip out!!

*Ok, so this isn't entirely true. Kris is sending me yarn for a special hat project for my mom's friend's son who was diagnosed w/ Leukemia.

January 16, 2009

Just a Note

I have been dreaming about having a good needle roll lately. Mostly for circs, but would be nice for regular straights, too. Then I found this tutorial! I know I have enough fabric to make it, but none of it is exactly what I want and none of it really goes together (well unless I want to incorporate flannel, which I don't really). I have this cute pink floral on brown background that I fell in love w/ in the JoAnn's remnant bin a long time ago; this is its calling.

And I have a pink w/ brown sort of damask pattern on it that I will use as the bias tape.

The problem is that I don't think I have enough of the pink floral... I just measured and I definitely do NOT have enough! In fact I have about 12% of what I need. Hm. I really want to get this going because I miss my sewing machine! Maybe next week I can go to the fabric store.

January 9, 2009

Holy Promptness, Batman!

The furniture guys said they would be here around 4:15. Not being used to service providers having any sense of time or people's schedules I expected them to be here at something more like 4:59. By 4:20 this had not only made it out of the truck, but also up a very narrow flight of stairs, through a narrow door way, and into my living room:

Now my apartment is full of furniture!

The second color shows the color a little better. For a good reference - it's about the color of a manila file folder.
YAY!!