Well, no cleaning was to be done...I had to wipe my ipod and find everything to put back on it which took nearly three hours. On a good note, all my Christmas shopping is done so all's left is to clean (ugh) and finish knitting. Another good note is that all the projects left use pretty chunky yarn so they'll knit up fast!
As I was charging my pod, I also put together a list of projects for presents next year, so after I get this years knitting done, and a couple personal projects (Noro, I'm looking at you), I can begin proper, more personalized gifts for friends and family.
*insert a burnt out Woot here*
Also of note, knit up about half a hat with Tony while watching The Year Punk Broke, an early gift to my fave dood. It was like living in 1991 all over again...with bonus features as well! Would my younger cousin appreciate the fact that I was re-living an important era of music while I was making her hat? Does she even know who Nirvana and Sonic Youth are (well, most likely yes...)? Let alone Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland and Meat Puppets? Guess I'll find out.
For Funsies, the striped hat I gave away because I didn't know who'd want it:
Well, I haven't been posting because I've only completed 4 of the 12 or so hats I need to finish for x-mas/new years...and every time I think about this blog I feel guilty that I'm so far behind in my knitting. Actually I've made 6 hats but given 2 away...co-workers. One who liked a hat I didn't know who to give it to and another co-worker who has worked with me for about a year and is moving almost all the way across the country. But due to lack of sleep and increased business at work, I've fallen behind, as I could have had at least 2 more hats knitted up in addition to those finished/given away.
Add to that getting my apartment ready for a quiet but hopefully satisfying X-mas most likely alone with my fave dood, Tony, I've gotta make my kitchen usable after a hostile take-over by mouse...eek/eww. There's no tree or tree like substitute this year (in the last few years I've decorated a few sprigs of eucalyptus branches with earrings, necklaces and a few random Mardi gras beads in a Christ-massy tin can), hardly any presents for Mom and Tony, and well, the apartment is kind of a disaster zone. Honestly, I didn't think I wanted a Christmas until this week.
But I'm thinking that no matter what is going on, I can't selfishly believe that I can just step away from the holidays without other people depending on me like I was going to this year. From now on, I'm getting a head start on knitting gifts, because I've got a lot of cousins, most of who've got kids of their own now, and a step-sister (who is no matter what always my sister) and she's got 2 kids too. I have a huge area of my teeny tiny apartment devoted to craft crap that NEEDS organizing, and my eventual plan for new years is to save up money to get out of this apartment complex (and away from the mice that come with it), which will involve packing, most likely scaling down the hoard of crap I've got and finding a way to fit it all into a new but probably just as teeny tiny apartment.
At the moment I'm doing laundry, still sipping my first cuppa coffee (yes, it's almost noon), and thinking about what to do while my ipod is charging: 1. dishes. 2. organizing the crash site that is my craft pile. 3. bleaching EVERYTHING that is in my kitchen...at least 4 times. And after all that, I still need to go to Hawthorne to get a CD I ordered from Jackpot, and pick up at least 2 skeins of yarn (probably bulky super-wash in navy and purple for 2 of my cousin's kids), and think about one of those ironically tiny potted x-mas trees if I can find them. I figure if I've got about 8 hours to do all this (3 of which will have to be while charging the pod) I can still relax for 2 hours before bed if I don't just drop into a coma when it's all done.Or just give up half way through.
...Yay for christmas cheer...
To give you an idea of the frame of mind all this christmas crafting puts me in, here's a great vid of crafting gone horribly horribly wrong. I think Tony found it once and thought of me immediately.
I spent a good deal of the summer crouched over doodling on, coloring
and cutting out shrink film like a mad 6-year old scientist, and
hoovering over the toaster oven hoping I got everything just right. A
lot of things were made for friends, cuz that's the kind of crafter I
am, but hey, I kept a few things for myself...
For those reading
this going, "Shrink film, wha?" shrink film, sometimes called
Shrinky-dink is a clear plastic sheet that one can draw on, cut out and
bake--the baking process shrinks and thickens the object. Punch a hole
into the film before baking and you have a cool pendant or dangly
pretty thing suitable for jewelry. (I've also been told it makes neat
christmas ornaments, for anyone out there looking for holiday decoration
crafts, and it's all kinds of addictive...)
So this is some of my jewelry, partly Shrinky-dink brand, partly just
plain shrink film, using Sharpie, Bic permanent pens, coloring pencils,
embroidery templates and Klutz templates (for copying), and most are
coated in clear and or clear glitter nail polish (which can sometimes
make the markers runny, but without it can make the image rub off--story
about that later...)
Star earrings (klutz templates)
Swallows--an embroidery design
Bats
(Klutz) Bird silhouette
(Klutz)Owl and Snail...possibly for my nephew
And then...
(Klutz) dangly earrings
Flower and bird also from Klutz
So klutz has really cool woodgrains...
...and plaid ideas
As well as hearts, paisley and stuff (used glitter nail polish as sealant)
A nautical/day of the dead charm necklace for my friend, reminds me more of retro tattoos
Couple more updates!
My camera & I have been seeing a lot of each other lately:
Slouchy Hat
New work-in-prog. Pardon the marshmallows... :D
And meet my new friend...
Pokey
Pokey
is made of Fun Clay or play clay or something. I am desperate to figure
out how to make the neat little octopus things I've been seeing around
lately. Anyway this is my practice clay before I move on to something
like polymer. I dont think I am supposed to bake it...maybe I could make
a little stop-motion video someday!
So Sunday I finished the cowl...(the work in progress from the last blog)
And it's ok, but I think I cast on too many stitches cuz it's not as tight as I want it. I loved the pattern so I cast on another yesterday morning at work (Pics later the slouchy hat in the post above this one), and decided to make it a hat, finished it today and started another! So that will be my Xmas thing this year, lacy slouchy hats. The one I finished today will be for a friend of mine who has a big head and dreaddies, cuz it is pretty wide still.
I think I'm going to need some mannequin heads if I'm going to go the hat route again this winter. I think I saw some at the House of Vintage...
I haven't forgotten about my new blog, I swear! It's just that now I've started it I am a little...worried that I wont know how to entertain people... Oi, how self-conscious of me.
So I'll start with some pretty pics of crafty stuff from last week to make this more interesting!
Need
Ever since I learned how to knit about 5 years ago now it has been my main type of craft. Before that I was into sewing and de/re-constructing clothing, but alas was never very good at it. Funny, but I was never into yarn, sweaters, or scarves or any of that really. No interest in socks or shawls, but I began to see women around me knitting more and more. I started to stray from my sewing craft boards and found people who successfully knitted sweaters, hats and scarfs, and while I knew it couldn't be easy, it seemed simpler than getting my crappy sewing machines to work.
I think the real appeal of crafts for me is, one) a sense of creation, and two) a determined individualistic need to make crap myself. So even tho it takes longer to make a simple scarf than say, a skirt from a couple tee shirts, the finished object (FO, by the way) looks better, doesn't usually involve me screaming at a stubborn piece of machinery, and best of all, can be done anywhere, really everywhere! On the bus, at work (approx half my day is downtime), on the couch (it's much quieter during a movie, for instance, than any sewing machine I have ever used), road trips (most of my first FO was worked on in the car between Dela-Where? and Portland,Or).
Since I still have to look at my work I tend to put on a lot of movies I've seen a few times, (or sometimes a few hundred times) like today, working with a candy cane striped wool (think blue raspberry) cowl and watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which to be honest I can only get away with when I'm home alone...
So I was sitting on my couch which is a big part of my life, and talking to my fave guy, Tony, and said I wanted to start a blog. He asked what kind of blog, to which I replied, "Duh, a craft blog!" and right away he said the coolest words ever, "A craft blog would be awesome!" Giving me the perfect title evar: Craft Blog Awesome.
My name is Emily and I am obsessed with knitting, wool, cotton, and silk yarn, glitter, feathers, shiny objects, Mod Podge, craft books, beads, empty containers (tea and coffee cans, mason jars, mints tins, pencil cases...). I'm a nut and my apartment is a mess and I feel a true victory every time I finish an object because it usually involved not losing it before it was finished...
I've spent the weekend knitting, cleaning, taking pictures and loading pictures, so now that I've actually started my blog, I'm too exhausted to finish typing. I hope to post pictures and updates soon, for instance, project ideas for my new ball of Noro Kureyon sock yarn... Welcome and thanks for reading!
