Happy Spring!

So last night was craftnite and we had a pretty chill night. Heidi and I stopped at Whole Foods to get some grub. I snapped a pic of the produce section.
This week for food we had mini shortbread cookies, chocolate, fritos, and chile con queso and chips from whole foods. Yum yum.
Selma liked how my new camera chirps when I turn it on and barks when it takes the picture; she wanted me to make it bark again, hence this cute pic of her:
Honey is a tiny, old cat. I call her a little old lady.
We had quite a packed house. Hillary, Lisa, and Amy.
as well as Heidi and Rebecca. I was planted in that hole between them.

Heidi was using her amazing ability to create things on the fly. This is a crocheted top. She swore that that tiny little thing fit her andIt did!
Ha-ha. It looks great so far. Can't wait to see it done. Then I'll try to convince her to post it on her blog as her first published pattern. As for me, I am just dying to finish this teapot cozy for a functional reason: I just want to keep my tea warm! I am almost finished. The striped part on the top is the lining. This is from the new Vogue book, "On the go: Quick gifts." I don't think this qualifies as quick or able to be "on the go," really. But it's still cool. By the second set of 72 french knot strawberry seeds, I ended up really liking to do them.
We talked about scary yarn shop owners, past traumas (e.g. my broken arms), and the new Interweave Crochet that I picked up today. Amy was a little disappointed that I didn't bring it since...ahem ahem...She's in it! I swear I decided not to bring it because I assumed she would have been the first one out to get it. Apparently the place I bought it put it out a little early. They included one of her patterns from the book, Crochet Me. There are all kinds of awesome patterns in this issue. There are several garments which actually seem to fit quite well. I have been skeptical in the past that crochet was a good tool with which to make garments because it doesn't drape as well, but Amy and some recent patterns I've seen have proven to me otherwise. Of the 20 patterns, almost half are garments. Disproving crochet's bad rap, one pattern at a time... I really wanna make the cover design!

And as I was walking home this afternoon of the first day of Spring; early from my internship because it was a half-day, daydreaming of planting myself in front of my Netflicked Lost Season 1 and this damn teapot cozy lining, I saw for the first time this year's bulbs coming up. The blurriness of the blossoms is from the windy windy winds, which made it not feel like Spring so much. It's ok, it will come.
Happy knitting!

Simple iPod cozy

Simple iPod Nano Cozy

Here is a simple cozy I made for my iPod nano. It is another great project for leftover Noro Kureyon. It also has minimal finishing, which I love. You can make it a little bigger for another size iPod.

Yarn: Leftover Noro Kureyon (worsted weight)
Needle size: I forget, but most likely I used US6. This is knit in the round so you will need DPN's or one circ (if using magic loop)
you also need a tapestry needle
Gauge: 5 stitches = 1", 8 rows = 1"

Directions:
Cast on 20 sts leaving a long tail (18" long or so. You will be using this to seam later)
Divide over DPNs or magic loop.
Join in the round being careful not to twist.
Knit in stockinette for 32 rounds.
Bind off row: Knit 1, Bind off 17 sts.
You should have 3 stitches not bound off; 2 from the end of the round and one from the beginning. Put these 3 onto a DPN and work an i-cord for 26" or desired length to fit around neck.(note on this picture: iPod will be completely inside cozy. It was pulled out about an inch for this picture)
Break yarn with an 8" tail and thread onto tapestry needle.
Sew this end of the i-cord to the other side of the cozy using that horozontil seam that looks like kitchener stitch.
With the cast-on tail sew the bottom seam using the same seaming method (as you do for shoulder seams).
Weave in ends and you are finished!

It's my birthday, I can eat what I want to...

So I had a wonderful birthday week. It began on Wednesday, my actual birthday. I got lots of "happy birthday"s at my internship, as well as bagels and cream cheese. Then I headed home to write an long-ass assessment for a class. Amy ordered me to finish it Wednesday so we could hold our weekly craft nite/b-day celebration on Thursday. So I got to work. At around 8 or 9pm, I got a knock on the door. It was Alison! She brought daffodils and cake for two. I was making dinner at the time so we had a mini, improv dinner and had girl talk.I didn't finish any more of my paper that night, but I did finish it minutes before Amy called Thursday. We had a great time. She made organic brownies from scratch and I had some organic quiche (also from scratch) that she had made for dinner that night. She tricked me into eating soy milk! (it was in the brownies) It's ok, though. I've been meaning to be tricked into tasting it. so we sat around the table knitting or crocheting. Tanya brought her rug that she had made from the cut up t-shirts one craft nite awhile back.And Amy showed us a draft of a book she is working on. It was so exciting! Can't share the dets yet, but it looks like a great idea for a book.Tonight we also had Hillary, who was nice enough to give rides to us non-car-owners. Thank you Hillary!Friday was normal. Paper turned in and such. I went home for the weekend and then tonight (Sunday) we had a little birthday thing at my grandparents' house. Can you guess what my big present was this year???Edward, my bro.Classic grandpa line...Uncle Pat giving fatherly advice of some sort...he looks stumped.Grandma, wondering what this little silver box is in front of my face...Mom, pretending she doesn't know that I'm taking her picture...

A camera! Mom got be a Canon Powershot. It's the one from those commercials with that tennis player. Now that I have her camera I'll be just like her (so the commerical conveys...ahh, media) I also got giftcards, bare essentials from Ali, a crochet book from Amy, and cash from both sets of grandparents. I bought a couple pieces of clothing at the mall, and was wondering, what else can I spend this birthday money on?....I know....An awesome book that Heidi and I were gawking over one day in the bookstore. It shows you how to do one of our favorite things to do...re-purpose! I love the drinking straw sconce and the tin can tealight holders. It's by one of the designers from While You Were Out. I also gotA cute little sewing book with really simple patterns that would be a good basis for customizing.

After the camera, the second best gift I got was from Edward. He is gonna make a girl really happy one day because he LISTENS. He heard me say I really wanted this, but when we found out the price I passed. I can't believe he bought it for me. So sweet. Check it out: It has 908 yoga poses. He got it at this store in Lakeforest Mall called Good Luck. It has lots of spiritual items like yoga stuff, meditation, Buddhist stuff, symbolic candles, incense, Hindu stuff. The owner is very nice and talkative and likes talking about the stuff in a non-evangelical way. It's a cute little store. Anyway, this poster is supposed to be for yoga studios, but I think it's just really cool to have up in my apartment. It will encourage me to continue doing yoga and exercising. Here is a close up:Ok, I'm not a super-feminist or anything, but there are no women in any of the 908 poses...whatev.

On the exercising...yeah, so coincidentally when I am turning an age that creeps up on thirty, I notice that I have a pouch! I haven't been exercising recently and for the past 26 years I have been living by the "I can eat anything I want and am still skinny ha-ha" principle. Well, not so much anymore. And it didn't help that in my social work exam study guide it says, "Decrease in height and increase in body fat at 30." Eek! So I'm gonna start watching it. All weekend when I've seen something bad I wanted to eat, I just put my hand on my tummy like a pregnant woman and backed away slowly. I thought I was just being silly about the pregnant thing when a former co-worker at Bath and Body Works actually asked if I was pregnant! Oh man.

So overall I had a great birthday week! Everyone was so nice and made me feel special. I'm meeting up with dad sometime this week for lunch, when I'll get another present too. I am truly blessed and promise this won't go to my head. Just a normal week coming up...except for, you know, studying for this...[insert jaws music]

[insert groan]

Happy knitting!

Using the whole cow

On Saturday we (mom, Edward and I) meandered our way across the street from our chosen lunch spot, Moby Dick, to Borders. I was "just browsing" when I found myself in line to buy 2 books: Japanese Lacy Crochet and Save This Shirt, a book about tailoring and re-purposing t-shirts. I have another book, 99 Ways to Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-shirt, which is good, but while the latter is 99 recipes, this new book shows you how to come up with your own ways (as well as providing some recipes), and includes non-tops as well. It also came with a free t-shirt that was pressed into a little t-shirt block. Edward and I, who also enjoy watching How It's Made and Unwrapped, got way to excited to watch the t-shirt block change into an actual t-shirt. Here are some pics. I'm gonna save this shirt for when I have a good handle on the process. I just had to make one of their projects. I told myself that after I finish my mid-term paper for psychodynamics class, that I could make one. I finished it at like 4 in the afternoon, and proceeded to sort my lot of t-shirts that I refuse to throw away because if I do I will lose the memory it holds for me forever (they also talk about this tendency in the book). So I chose an XL t-shirt from my mom's work, Mo Co's Housing Opportunity Commission. Very little emotional investment in this shirt here. And I made this: the "Arm Bag," because the handles are the shirt's arms (or shoulders). The inside is a little pouch with a drawstring: The drawstring is the bottom hem, cut off and threaded through a new hem you make. I might adjust this later. I then used the arm parts of the shirt that were cut off to make a three-compartment bag by just sewing them together an all sides but one.I need to add a few zippers or something now. I didn't want to throw away the neck...so I put it on my head.
Instant headband! So one could say that...just like the Native Americans used the whole cow, I used the whole t-shirt...Ahh..re-purposing...how green.

Happy kni...crafting!

p.s. trivia question I heard from a new friend (no googling!): The green stripe on the Irish flag stands for the Catholic population and the orange stripe stands for the Protestant population. What is the other color and what does it stand for? My last name's McLaughlin (pronounced properly, MacLachlan) and I still didn't get it. :-(

The gift of time

So this week was pretty chill craft-wise. I went to Adega's on Tuesday for SSK and had fun as usual.

As I was walking over there this week I reflected on my first visit. I was so nervous! The last time I tried to join a group it did not turn out well. But I was welcomed and included. Then on the way home I thought, well that was fun. However, I still worried that I would end up just going to be with other knitters/crocheters, and that I wouldn't actually become friends with them. It would just be an excuse to get out of the house and knit with someone else. Well, after about four months of this group, I realize now that SSK has become another part of my weekly routine. I work my life around it. Tuesday is just SSK night and that's it. And many of the ladies in the group have become my friends. :-) yay.

So back to the crafting. Something weird happened this week. I got all my work accomplished, yet also amazingly got a good amount of knitting accomplished as well. I was given extra time and I don't know where from. hmm. Or, I have developed the ability to work knitting into my everyday life so that I still get non-knitting done. Here's to those hoped-to-be-knitters who say they "don't have time to knit." no, you FIND time.

My first fair isle is done, and I have embroidered 72 out of the 144 strawberry seeds on as well as 22 lazy daisies out of 44, each with a french knot middle. After doubling what I have done, for the area below "tea time," I just need to knit the lining. It will look so much nicer in that there are all lengths of yarn stretched out on the inside due to the fair isle.

I also finished my let's-try-noro-kureyon-sock-yarn socks. Man, I have so much yarn left over! I could seriously knit a second pair. I was grafting the toe on the metro. People must've been thinking, what the hell is that girl doing with that rainbow sock and a needle? THEN, i gave a last little tightening to the end and SNAP. I cursed aloud. The freaking yarn broke millimeters from the last stitch. There is no way I could make a knot with this little stub of yarn. I just tucked the stub behind a stitch and washed it from my mind, pretending that, oh, there's a knot there, yeah...I progressed on my ribbed lace bolero quite a bit! I had heard it was a fast knit and, man, it is.

You can find a picture of the final product as well as directions here.

And my wavy scarf is quite long as well. I started the second and final skein today.
This was my non-knitting craft for this week. Like a year ago I bought this discounted wrapping paper from Old Navy in hopes of covering a bunch of boxes with it. Alas, it ended up far back in my closet. Then yesterday I had this cylindrical cookie tin from Pepperidge Farm that I didn't want to throw away (kind of a hoarder when it comes to crafts if you haven't noticed). So I killed two birds with one stone. And voila, a marker tin:
So although I was mysteriously given the gift of time this week, I fear that the next few weeks won't be as generous (even though I will have 2 half-spring breaks [don't ask. it's confusing]). Saturday, March 29 is the next time I foresee being able to seriously knit again. This is why:

Monday March 10th - mid-term paper due
Wednesday March 12th - my birthday
Friday March 14th - paper due
Every waking hour between March 15th and March 25th - study for social work licensing exam
Wednesday March 26th - 7:30am - licensing exam
Wednesday March 26th - 12:00pm - receive results that I passed with flying colors (knock on wood)
Friday March 28th - presentation

Yeah, so......

Happy knitting!

p.s. oh yeah, and Shadow says hello.

He likes to go in the sink when I'm getting ready. Then when I have to wash my hands or do anything involving turning on the faucet, he regrets ever venturing into the sink. He never learns, though. He does it everyday. He doesn't really care when I have to spit my toothpaste into the sink, though...weird cat...