Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Green?... Who me?

I'm taking a class right now--Environmental Biology--and I'm stoked about a project my professor just announced. Create something useful from something that you would normally throw away. Did I ever mention my love for crafts that are from trash?!? Remember my post about the plarn rug? Here's a picture reminder:

I gave this to my mom last year as a Mother's Day present and she LOVED it!

I'm so excited to revisit this crochet project from plastric bags and it'll be a breeze to write a paper on it.

Another project we're doing is making solar cookers from recycled materials... now THAT is gonna be interesting... Make something that can cook food using only the power of the sun.... no electricity or fire allowed! Thank goodness for the internet :)

Monday, January 24, 2011

What I've been doing...


Certainly very little crocheting.... I just started some college classes, and with working full-time and being a single parent... let's just say I've been very busy! I did start on a new project that I'm excited about...

The Ashlar Crochet Cardigan

I'm working on it in between papers and it is going pretty fast :) Will post pictures when I finish. The pattern is rather confusing and makes little sense at some parts, so beware!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The World's Biggest Yarn Stash!

I came across this today and just had to share!!!




Head over to Mochimochi Land to learn more about the World's Biggest Yarn Stash :)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Truths For Mature Humans

Saw this on a forum and wanted to share... enjoy!



Truths For Mature Humans


1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.


2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.


3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger


4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.


5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?


6. Was learning cursive really necessary?


7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.


8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.


9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.


10. Bad decisions make good stories.


11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.


12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.


13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.


14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.


15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.


16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.


17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Area" routing option.


18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.


19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?


20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!


21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.


22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.


23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!


24. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Finally Recovered!

The past couple of weeks have been.... busy! I stayed up late finishing presents on Christmas Eve. Well worth it--everything was a huge hit!


Here's the Turtle Amigurumi I made for my g-ma... she fell in love with it!


My bro enjoyed the Visor Beanie


My SIL loved the Geisha Amigurumi and the Convertable Hat.


And best of all......!!!!

Check out the expression of my mom seeing The Grinch Amigurumi!

Also notice the Convertable Cowl she's sporting... made by yours truly.

See, what happened was she asked me to make her a hooded cowl, so she knew she was getting that.... but I didn't want her to know about the Grinch.... so I wrapped the Grinch and rolled it up inside the cowl and then wrapped the cowl.... total genius! The priceless look when she saw it made me feel like a million dollars! And in case you're wondering what the pink thing is she's wearing... it's a SNUGGIE... I may or may not own one too :)



Remember me saying the it doesn't snow a lot where I'm from? Well, the day after Christmas it starts snowing... and didn't stop! We got 8 inches of snow... which is like a blizzard to us! The whole town shut down :)

Little man taking credit for the snowman that momma made--HA! He stood to the side and watched me painstakingly roll each ball... okay, I'll give credit where credit is due... he picked which color buttons to use!

Here's little man gathering snow for a fight!



Dude, where's my car?!?

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Earflap Hats

I love how the EZ Earflap Hats turned out!


This one was especially for little man :)


And then he graciously modeled the pink one I crocheted for a girl we're doing a secret santa exchange with...




I made major adjustments to the fitting of the hat... it just wasn't working. But I'm very happy with the end result!

Monday, December 13, 2010

12 days 'til Christmas!

So much yarn, so little time.

Um, yeah... so I still haven't finished all the presents!
Here's a to-do list for me in the next week :
Something for my awesome aunt, the one that owns two cute brown goats.


And I found this!:


For my grandmother that collects turtle figurines:

Turtle


A little something cute for my co-workers:


Rupert the Owl

After all these projects are (hopefully) finished, I'll be doing as many hats and snowflakes as I can until the big day :)

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Tuesday?

How is it only Tuesday?!? Shouldn't it be Friday?

It's funny... I woke up yesterday morning thinking it was next week! Hmmm... guess I have holiday on the brain. So much yarn, so little time!

Last night I made a fabulous Visor Beanie for my brother for Christmas. I love, love, love it! The pattern was *big*, so I took out the last round of increases and it turned out perfect! I made my bro's in green & cream, and I loved it so much that now I'm making one for me in blue :) Pictures to be posted soon!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

The Grinch Amigurumi

Introducing.... The Grinch Who Stole Christmas!



Pattern available at Ravelry and my Etsy shop.

Crochet and Snow!

Finished the Geisha Amigurumi I was working on and have finally gotten a picture loaded. How cute! I think the recipient will love it!



I made a hooded cowl and my mom fell in love with it. She asked for it for her Christmas present... but I've already got her present done, lol. Looks like she'll be getting an extra present this year :)


Living in eastern North Carolina, we only see snow once or twice a year, so it's always a special occasion when it happens. And last night it snowed!

Here's little man balling up a snow ball, planning his attack! And I was the not-so-smart person that was wearing crocs and no socks! I guess I was caught by surprise with the snow... cold, wet feet :)

I think we got about an inch of snow last night, and today it has already melted by lunchtime.... boo!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Birthday Awesomeness


My mom made me an awesome cake! We wanted to try the diet soda cake: one box of cake mix (we used carrot cake) and a can of diet coke, topped off with lemon glaze. It was pretty awesome! Except for....


the burned parts, lol! My mother has the crazy ability to make burn takes good.... like burnt squash or burnt cornbread. Nothing better than burnt squash and cornbread, yummy! Or maybe I have built a tolerance for this "style" of cooking?

A baby picture of me and big brother :) I hate to admit this, but I was an ugly child! And for some reason, my father decided to torture me with the story of my birth.... umm, Dad, NO!

Afterwards, went to a par-tay with some awesome people. My tootsies were cold (notice the warm fuzzy socks). They were oh-so comfortable. Some guy with one too many beers kept piling up firewood to ridiculous heights (please note the small, little firepit and the giant pile of WOOD!). Good times :)

The goat that joined us for Thanksgiving. My Aunt adopted two of these cute little creatures and we had a blast feeding them.

My son feeding baby goat.


And check out the NAILS! on momma goat! Aunt needs to trim those bad boys!

Funny Cats

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Hand Print Ornaments

Can I just say how cute these are?!?


The instructions are very easy and I have every single ingredient at home (yay!). Just salt, oil, flour, and supplies.

These Homemade Ornaments will make great presents for the grandparents in my family :)

Follow link for tutorial.

Where's all the finished stuff at?

Ummm, yeah, so I may have a tinsy, winsy, itty, bitty problem with starting a whole lot of crochet projects... and never finishing them :)

What's that called? Hmmm.... WIP disease, yes, that's what I'll call it. So, yeah, I have WIP disease.

On a good note.... I'm almost.... so close.... to finishing the Geisha Amigurumi that I started. Everything is done except for the ribbons I'm gonna add :)

And I'm working on a very special project, for a very special person.... my mom :) She tends to stress out during the holiday season, and she's always had a slight obsession with the Grinch.The thing I'm making is gonna be freaking adorable. It's looking great. Since I've been unable to locate a pattern for the Grinch, I'm writing my own. I hope to be able to have that pattern available to others soon :)

And I've made some more things for my mom's etsy store.... which is still not up and running yet......?

One more day of work, and then the start of my 5 day weekend :)

Awesomeness!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Recycled Holiday Crafts

I saw these recycled crafts this morning, and I have to, have to, have to(!) make them! The first being this cute Recycled Book Page Wreath.




This is perfect for the pile of newspapers I've been saving for just such a project :)



Secondly, I came across a sweet little christmas tree made of recycled sheet music.



Please visit links for great picture tutorials :)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Recycled Art :)

Michele Made Me is my favorite blog discovery of the day :) She has awesome tutorials for make things out of recycled materials.


These flowers are made of....toilet paper rolls! Aren't they gorgeous?!?




And the fabulous Plastic Bottle Wreath :)