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
