Finishing

In the sense of not finished, but completing the final steps of being finished. Confusing? Nah.

I have completed the sweater. I just need to finish it. The buttons are sewed, I've sewn in the ends around the neck, all that is left is to sew the hem on the sleeves and bottom edge and hide all the yarn ends. Then it will be finished.

I put it on last night after I finished sewing on the buttons and Jamie couldn't stop smiling at me. He said "I'm just remembering all the cussing and starting back over and 'gimme the computer so I can look up how this is supposed to work' and crap that it took, but look at what you made." People just don't make thier own clothing anymore. But those that do are out there, online. Sharing that enjoyment.

It has been a trial. I have been frustrated beyond belief. I have set it down thinking I would never pick it up again. But I did and now it is almost finished.

I see some things that I'd like to fix, but I've got to do more research cause I don't personally know anyone who knits. That's for the next project.

The baby shower gifts were received well! The expecting mother was more excited than I thought she would be, in a very good way. Gifting handmade stuff makes me super nervous - I know most people in this area are appreciative of them, but it just weirds me out if I'm the only one who brings a handmade gift. I wasn't - she received quite a few sewn blankets. I get the weirdest looks that I am in my late twenties and that I knit/crochet coolish stuff - not ruffled TP holders, teapot cosies, or doll clothes. Everyone was very nice at identifying who made the stuff and the crafty conversation was flowing. Lots of crafty people in that bunch! Even made some contacts for future sewing help (once the machine is fixed).

I will be posting a picture of me wearing the sweater - all finished - hopefully by the end of the week.

Until then, have a great week everyone!

Just keep knitting...

I finished the blanket. It looks like this:

I was imagining more of a triangular trim, but couldn't find a good stitch pattern and the little loops looks okay. The pattern calls for only one stitch for the corners and I think if I ever make this same blanket again, I'll do two or three because the corners really show up with it's unfolded. It is what it is. I did it in a week!
Since I finished early, I'm going to try to get a little beanie done and maybe some little booties. I should be able to finish those before Satuarday.

I've worked a bit on the sweater too. I only have four more steps to do - crochet the buttonhole side, sew buttons on, attached the lace to the sweater, and a final block of the front.

The CC yarn I used is a bit heavier than I'd have liked, but it is my first sweater - it'll have to do. I really need to get this thing finished!

I have not cast on the helmet liner for my brother-in-law and I have not started another nerd coaster. Those are on the list of things to do.

Speaking of lists - I love lists - so much that I downloaded a list maker app for my phone. It is the best thing ever. I paid 1.99 for it cause I wanted something that could do more than the notes app already on my phone and I wanted to be able to create grocery lists, checklists, to do lists, and this app even as a 'custom list' option that I haven't used yet (just downloaded it last night). I'm pretty excited though. I think I'll create a knitting list to keep track of too. Love it! It's ListPro if you're interested and love lists like me!

Random topic of the day - I discovered I lost about six pounds from my morning weigh and an evening weigh on my wii fit board. I'm thinking that my bathroom scale needs a battery, but what a great feeling discovering that I am not quite as much of a fat ass as I originally thought! Since I've already lost 3 lbs by eating better for a week and a half, one could say that I have lost 10 lbs. That is a big difference! It's really easy when you cheat and get incorrect readings from the scale though!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Fantastic Friday!

This week has been a bit of a blur for so many reasons - Jamie started his new job, I decided to start eating better, started a new crochet project, and all the routine/normal stuff. Jamie started his new job which is about a 40-45 min commute and he's working completely out in the 100+ degree heat so by the time he gets home he's completely wiped out. I've been doing my best to have as much done in the hour between me getting home and his arrival home so he can concentrate on sleeping. This heat has to let up sometime. It's super draining and hopefully he'll adjust - or he'll just go to bed at 8 every night. Oh well.

Decided last Friday that I didn't want to gain every pound I lost about two years ago (by eating better and working out, neither of which I do now) and bought lots of healthy stuff at the grocery store. I made myself an infamous 'green smoothie'. The original recipe I pulled from a friend of mine Claire and then I did a bit of research and discovered I could pretty much put whatever in the hell I wanted to in this thing.I know this is not the best picture in the world, but this was after round one in the blender. Here's what I put in it: 4 leaves romaine, 2 handfuls of spinach, 1 banana, 1.5 green apples, handful of frozen raspberries, 1/2 cucumber, one squeezed lemon, and some ginger. The smoothie won. I'm working with a 1970s model blender and there was a lot of chewing going on to get round one down. Round two got another banana, more ginger, water, and ice. I had this three mornings. I need to make another batch, but we're out of banana. I'd like to add some of the veggies that I don't really like - like beets/raddishes/etc to see if I can get some of those goodies without knowing I'm eating them.

In addition to the green smoothie, I'm eating 100-150 calories multiple times throughout the day. I've only been seriously trying this for a week and I've already lost 2 lbs. I only cheated once last weekend (we went out to dinner with friends). I'll also have to cheat today because we're doing a 'goodbye' lunch for someone at work who's retiring. 

Earlier this week, I sewed the sleeves onto my sweater. They look like this:

Not too shabby. I was having a bit of an issue with casting on the contrasting color neckband and was feeling pretty frustrated when I started another project that has to be completed in two weeks. I started it Monday. I'm this far:

It's a baby blanket for a friend of mine who's expecting. Her baby shower is on the 27th and I have a long way to go. It's crochet. Pound of Love yarn. And it's not even close to being complete. It's a free pattern from Lion's Brand Yarns - Jonah's Blanket...or something like that. I'm hoping they'll like it. It's giving me a break from the sweater frustration with a very specific goal to get this done in two weeks. Then it'll be back to the sweater. I am so close to finishing the sweater, I can taste it.

Tuesday, the deal of the century came in. We didn't get to put it up until Thursday. Here it is on our ceiling:

Fanciest light fixture in the house.

That's the excitement of this week! I plan on crocheting a lot this weekend in a mad dash to meet the deadline. I would love to get some work done around the house, but if the humidity and heat don't let up that will not be happening. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Another weekend...

I did not knit a single stitch this weekend. (!)

Let me paint this picture for you: Wednesday night our AC crapped out on us. I think I only got about 3 hours of sleep and that's being generous.I still don't think I've recovered from last Wednesday night. I have been exhausted since. (The AC is fixed, just some loose wires.)
I took a 30min power nap before we hung out with friends Friday night. Woke up super early Sat. to go pick up Jamie's toolbox from work (he starts a new job next week), unloaded it at the house for temporary storage, and attempted to not melt from the crazy heat outside. I took an hour and a half power nap Sat. evening. We grilled up some burgers and made homemade french fries. Sunday I was awoken by our sweet hounds who didn't really care that I hadn't slept much in the past three days and I did not take a nap because I wanted to actually sleep through the whole night before going to work.
Knowing how lack of sleep affects my counting abilities I didn't attempt knitting. I did however start blocking the sweater. I am blocking portions of it at a time since I do not have a big enough space for the entire thing. It's a slow process, but worth it.

I also found something amazing:


This little beauty is going into my master bedroom closet. It was only $38 at the HD. It's normally $70. Do I feel like I just got the deal of the century? Yup. I have been pouring over home lighting/improvement websites and stores looking for some light fixture that is fabulous but cheap. The cheapest I could find was at least $50. Eesh - for a freaking light fixture?! I absolutely LOVE the drum pendant styling, but that pops it up to more like $70-$80 for a freaking light fixture. I just happened to go to HD's website to look at lights...again...for the 1 millionth time. And I couldn't believe the price on this puppy. I bought it on the spot. Too good to pass up. I'll be posting a picture of it installed later.

I am hoping to finish up the sweater project this week and I will show you all the finished product! Look for it!
Have a great week.

Buckle down

Hope you all are buckled down for a long post! Lots to share!

Lets start at the beginning. With knitting of course! 

The sweater project is progressing quite nicely.

Here's what it looks like at the moment --> 

Missing blocking and finishing steps.

Here's a close up of the fig leaf pattern at the neck. Badly needs to be blocked. But so far so good! I am trying to think of the best way to block all these pieces. Typically I do it on my ironing board because I've never had to block anything so large. Pretty sure a blocking mat investment is in the near future.



The latest and greatest from the super surprise brother-in-law project. I've come to the conclusion they will not be perfect. He's getting these different sized swatches with the real ones. The bottom one is the first try - double stranded grey yarn/too tight stitch/no extra stockinette rows above and below. The middle one is the last try - just finished last night/messed up on the red bottom portion of the logo/two rows of stockinette above and below before starting the seed border with smaller needles. The top is attempt two - using smaller needles for the seed border/looser stitching cause the first one was tight/one strand of grey/no extra rows/it's rectangle. Still working on it! I did however find a graph for the Empire symbol and I'm using it when I get to that.

I found this bracelet on pinterest and really wanted to make one. Then when I got my latest Crochet Today!, there was an article for broomstick lace. It was a sign. I tried acrylic yarn first and it was...well...ugly. I remembered a bit of bamboo blend left over in my stash and was sure that this little item wouldn't take that much yarn. It's not quite as pretty as the one on pinterest, but it's still damn cool. Might I add - it is very difficult to take a photo of your own wrist. Please appreciate this photo! ;)

 In the midst of all this knitting/crocheting gloriousness, my sister came over to make jelly and can salsa.

Wait, there's more! Nothing to do with yarn, but just as exciting. Three weekends ago we picked up two boxes of flooring and some trim for the master bedroom closet. 

Two weekends ago I cut and painted the trim. This trim matches what we put in my childhood room we remodeled a couple years back and are currently living in. I had a huge problem cutting it correctly - it was my first time hanging trim. I discovered this time around that my miter saw is too small for this "gaudy" [Jamie's words] trim. We also always get in a tiff about trim because my better half has zero patience for it. But my nickname is Tetris and I enjoy it. I used a miter box and saw to get it just right. It fits together perfectly. The background is the bedroom wall color: Creek Bend.

This past weekend, after jelly and salsa making, I laid the two boxes of flooring in the closet. I'm two rows short. It's going to be beautiful! The closet color is Oyster something or other.

The flooring/trim/wall color together. Love!

This is the last photo ya'll I promise! Monday our Americana hen layed a little mini-egg! Here's our normal egg with the mini egg for reference! Look how cute it is! I'm hoping she'll start laying normal-sized eggs eventually.

Thanks for sticking with me through all that! Have a great rest of the week!

Em

So much to say

There is a lot going on at our house as of late! I so want to tell ya'll all about it, but it's going to be so much better with pictures and all the photographic electronic objects here have refused to cooperate. 
Some of the projects involve a few items of interest like:
power tools
hot water
green yarn
graph paper
fig leaves

I'll leave you all to mull over that for awhile.
Happy Tuesday!